This is a Golden eagle. It is a captive bird due to an injury that prevents it from being released back into the wild. The injury may have robbed it of its freedom but did nothing to reduce its majesty and pride.

Golden eagles are actually a dark, rich brown until the sun hits their feathers, then the golden orange-ish color comes out as you can see on this birds neck. This image was taken on an overcast day with the sun struggling to break through the clouds which it occasionally managed to do for seconds at a time. When it did and illuminated him you could see the myriad colors that are usually hidden from view. There are blues and greys and hints of the reddish-orange that turns gold in the distance, even a bright shade of gold itself as you see on the edges of its wings. Were you to see this bird in flight high against the blue Colorado sky it would seem to be a solid golden color and the darker brown that you see now would only show in the shadows where the feathers might be hidden from the sun.

Normally I prefer to photograph animals in their natural state, however due to the natural conditions that exist you can not always get this close to show the beauty and detail that is a part of  the animals appearance. Golden eagles nest high in the remotest parts of cliffs and mountainsides and are next to impossible to approach. You can often reach them with powerful telephoto lenses but never as close as you can to a bird in captivity. Often if you’re lucky you can see them perched on their prey while they’re on the ground but even then it is nearly impossible to get close up images such as this portrait.

This is an image out of our Captive Beauty portfolio, which is a collection of images of animals and birds in captivity due to injury, or their unfortunate inclusion in a species that is endangered, or any other reason that keeps them from being returned to the wild.The collection is intended to show the beauty and uniqueness of each animal so that the viewer can see what makes each one special and deserving of help and protection.

For the last several years I have been photographing a pair of nesting Golden Eagles and have posted several stories of their lives and experiences on the blog. I’ve had to shoot them from a distance that varies from nearly a ¼ of a mile to much closer when they fly by which can clearly show the bird but not any detail. One never wants to see a wild animal placed into captivity but sometimes there is no other alternative. Having access to otherwise healthy beautiful animals is a very important ability to be able to observe and show up close what we can rarely, if ever, see in the wild.