Took a cruise of a slightly different nature over the weekend, a short raft trip down a river in BC. The purpose was to view and count bald eagles along a specific stretch of river. The eagles are attracted to the river this time of year to feed on the carcasses of spawned-out salmon. The river is said to have the largest concentrations of bald eagles in North America during December and January.
The float was a lot of fun but the cards were somewhat stacked against us this year. First, the salmon return to this river was not all that good. Second, heavy rains caused flooding that swept a lot of the carcasses away so the food supply was not what it normally is. And third, the weather during the float was rain, snow and fog, with a heavy overcast that made it quite dark, all of which combined to defeat any sort of decent photography. The fact I was using an unfamiliar and rather annoying camera which together with its lens was literally running with water the entire float didn't help, either.
Still, excuses aside, in the short section of river we floated we counted some 200 eagles and I managed to get a couple of halfway decent shots despite the conditions. Needless to say, it was very cool being close proximity to so many of these fascinating birds.
The float was a lot of fun but the cards were somewhat stacked against us this year. First, the salmon return to this river was not all that good. Second, heavy rains caused flooding that swept a lot of the carcasses away so the food supply was not what it normally is. And third, the weather during the float was rain, snow and fog, with a heavy overcast that made it quite dark, all of which combined to defeat any sort of decent photography. The fact I was using an unfamiliar and rather annoying camera which together with its lens was literally running with water the entire float didn't help, either.
Still, excuses aside, in the short section of river we floated we counted some 200 eagles and I managed to get a couple of halfway decent shots despite the conditions. Needless to say, it was very cool being close proximity to so many of these fascinating birds.
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