This past summer was excellent for the number of eagles feeding on the schools of herring and for the number of days we viewed the activity on the wildlife safaris. The larger the schools of herring in our viewing area mean many more humpback whales, more salmon to attract killer whales and more eagles feeding. The base of marine activity is the abundance of herring.
Tag Archives: eagles
Bald eagles waiting for dinner
Bald eagles are a common sight in our tour area. As one of our guides says to his guests: “I will point out the first ten eagles and after that you are on your own.” This does not mean we don’t stop to get a good photo but that means when the eagle is a little lower down in a tree and not a white spot on the top of a tree. The waiting aspect of the photo is because that is what eagle do. They wait for a salmon on the surface or a herring ball to form to provide a “chance” for a meal.
Bald Eagle Bathing
This is the case of “I know it must happen but I had never seen it.”. A bald eagle is a bird and birds need to take a bath. This was the day that the guests had to wait for the guide to watch something that he had never seen but once I had explained how rare this was there was more interest on their part. I have been on this river in the summer for more than twenty summers first as a fishing guide and now wildlife viewing so to say that this is rare is an understatement.
Bald Eagle Watching Us
One of the hardest parts of a good photo of a bald eagle is not finding the eagle but getting a clear photo. Although this photo is interesting it would be better without the branch in the way. This required that I back the boat away from the eagle in hopes that it would not move than travel along the shore and drift back so the branch is behind the eagle. There are enough eagles in the area that if guests want a good picture they will get one.
Bald Eagle Spotting
It does not matter if we are on a grizzly bear tour, whale watching or on a trip to Trapper Rick’s on the extra day in camp guests are always looking for bald eagles. The eagles white head is easy to spot as we run along the shore to our destination. What is hard to see is the immature eagles, which do not start getting their white feathers until their third year and do not have a full white head until their fifth. Juvenile bald eagles are a mixture of brown and white with a black beak in young birds. The adult plumage develops when they are sexually mature. Once we have reached either the grizzly bear viewing area or the location of the whales and we have stopped to view the wildlife it is much easier to find the juvenile eagles along the sore.
An abundance of Eagles
Bald eagles are common on your tour days whether looking for whales or heading up Knight Inlet to the grizzly bears. The goal of most quests after they have seen a number of eagles sitting in the trees to far away for even a long lens to get a good picture is to get close. This takes time but we normally manage a few good pictures. Actually the best pictures are often taken at the lodge where the resident eagle have a nest and spend time in the tree along the shore close to the lodge. Spring and early summer there is an abundance of eagles on the whale watching days as they are on the ocean feeding on herring. As soon as the salmon arrive in the rivers in late summer and the fall the eagle migrate to the rivers for the left over salmon after the grizzly have eaten their fill.
Eagle salmon fishing with the grizzly bears
Excellent photos from UK’s James O’Donoghue. While in the viewing stands on the Glendale River there is always activity if you tire to the bears take time for some eagle action or blue herons. The grizzly bears are constantly leaving partially eaten salmon on the shore, which makes the eagles life much easier while the heron are searching for small trout. This eagle appears to be coming to claim some prey either a fresh salmon on a carcass. If you check the feathers above the talons they are wet making me think that a water catch was missed. In the fall the eagle move from other areas along the British Columbia coast to the river where the is much more food and thus providing or guest with great opportunities for photo like this one.
