Me too...good catch.

Continuous shutter mode at 5 frames per second...and a whole bunch of luck.
Dean

From the pier at Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores AL. A Juvenile Brown Pelican getting to know a neighbor...probably a Lemon Shark?

Marc...thank you for the quick response. The Skytracker Pro does not have a clutch to release the RA drive. I can loosen the lever on the counterweight dovetail bar a bit. That allows everything to swing to horizontal, but not freely. The bottom of the dovetail drags on the rubber gasket that you can see attached to the camera mounting block. This occurs when the whole rig is in the vertical (0 declination) position. That added friction prevents free rotation. I sense that I may be close to balance even with the added friction however a free swinger would certainly be a confidence builder.
Dean

Just got mine. My Nikon D700 and Rokinon 28mm f1.4 exceed the 2.6 pound weight limit so I ordered the counterweight kit. The on-line instruction guide shows how to assemble and install the kit but falls way short on explaining the actual balancing procedure. Anybody have any experience or procedural tips?
Thanks
Dean

According to the park Naturalist, this nest was partially destroyed in an early January storm. She (the Naturalist) found an egg on the ground. The pair immediately began rebuilding and continued brooding activities, indicating to her that a second egg may have survived the storm. This image was made during the third week in February. The pair was definitely exhibiting brooding behavior. One always on the nest, standing, stretching and moving the egg around about every 20 minutes. Shift change occurred about every 3 hours or so. The returning Eagle always bringing in some pine needles or a few sticks to keep the homestead looking nice. Both would spend a few minutes inspecting and remodeling then the first bird would fly off. The Naturalist predicts that if the egg is viable, it should hatch by mid-March. We are rooting for them! Fascinating. My wife and I trekked out to the site 6 times and spent 2-3 hours on each visit...leaving after shift change.

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Nest site in Gulf State Park in Gulf Shores Alabama.

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Got it...after re-reading your original post I now realize that your D90/300mm combo is piggybacked on a tracking gadget. All makes sense now. Thank you for the follow up.

Dean

Nice...these little speedsters remind me of an F104. Great catch!
Dean

Wow! Great image of the girls. Your stars are incredibly sharp, how do you accomplish that with a 30 second exposure at 300mm?
Dean

Great image...you are fortunate to have a rehab center near you. The work that they do caring for our native critters is commendable and costly...but many times thankless. If you have access, your photos might be welcomed by them for their website/Facebook/fund raising activities. Use your obvious talent to help the raptors. And, by the way, if you click on the "save original" button when you download your images, chumps like me can hit the "download original" and enjoy the full size version.

My eye gets stuck on the big, bright watermark. Your mission is to draw my eye to that incredible raptor. A suggestion might be to reduce the opacity of the watermark layer so it is barely visible. A fellow hogger made that suggestion to me several years ago...although my feathers got a bit ruffled, I tried it and my posted images immediately began getting better critiques. I love Eagles! Nice catch...
Dean

Great head shots on the Ibis and GBH.

I like it! 👍

Appreciate the comments of all who responded. Thank you. I have probably made hundreds of images of Cormorants over the years but this is the only one that my wife allows me keep on the hard drive. :-D