About this time each year, two large runs of pink salmon return to the Nooksack and Skagit rivers to spawn. Pinks are reasonably small, averaging 4 to 5 pounds with a few 20 pound lunkers thrown in for excitement. With a total of 6.8 million fish on average returning each year to all Puget Sound rivers, it's by far the largest run of salmon we have here. But the Skagit and Nooksack are the places to see them in numbers - and also the large number of eagles they attract.
Though perhaps a little early, I headed up to my favorites spots along the Nooksack last week hoping to see some eagles and I wasn't disappointed.
For me, it doesn't get much more fun than trying to photograph eagles while in flight.
You won't find eagles diving for fish like we do here at Lake Sawyer or at Wolf Lodge Bay in Lake Coeur 'd Alene while kokanee are spawning. Trout and kokanee are much smaller than even small pink salmon. Salmon are much too big and heavy for eagles to lift. Instead, eagles feed on salmon carcasses that lie in the water after they have spawned and no longer flapping about.
The "action", when it occurs for photographers, is when eagles engage in disputes over who gets to feed first. Then, it's all about a display of power and threat in an attempt to chase other eagles from feeding on their favorite carcasses and territory.
Watching them feed is not a pretty sight.
Only when enough meat has been removed from the carcass will an eagle attempt to claim it and lift it away to a more private dinner spot.
They do seem to really like feeding on the skin too. Always fun to watch even when just performing a fly by.
More eagle pics in a future post.
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