Gathering of Eagles

For years I have heard and read about the winter gathering of bald eagles… where you can see as many as 100 eagles perched in streamside trees or feasting on the carcasses of spawned out salmon. It was something I’ve always wanted to see for myself. So yesterday morning I put my two cameras into a day pack along with birding binoculars and a small bag of trail mix; we bundled ourselves up to withstand temperatures in the teens, and set off for the north fork of the Nooksack River.

We weren’t sure where to look for the eagles, only that Deming Homestead Eagle Park was where naturalists sometimes give guided tours. There was only one vehicle in the parking lot when we pulled in, an old pick-up with someone sitting inside. Never shy, Bob goes over and knocks on the window. The guy rolls down his window and the two converse for a while. Bob comes back and says, “He’s a fisherman; getting himself ready to go fishing. Says you can only stand being out there (in the below freezing weather) for about 45-minutes.” The fisherman was a local and told Bob where the eagles were right now, “About 50 of them. Cross the bridge and turn left. There’s a pull off overlooking the river. You’ll probably see other cars there.” Sure enough, there were two vehicles pulled off the road and a couple of men with serious looking camera lenses. More importantly, there were the bald eagles - adult and sub-adult, perhaps some golden eagles, and a few seagulls and ducks thrown in for good measure. A few chum salmon still struggled to swim upstream in the shallow water, but mostly there were the carcasses that the eagles come to feed upon before heading north to their summer homes in Alaska and British Columbia.

... Photos and text by P. L. Morningstar
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