Eagles Like Nice Weather

Well, after a few years of observing the bald eagles in Eleven Mile Canyon I can say one thing for sure. Eagles like nice weather and they don’t like snowy days. Monday was pretty nice, the day after a snowstorm with more on the way. Several times I have gone to check on them before during and after a snowstorm and they are nowhere to be found, and Monday was no different. It seems they know when snow is coming and by noon it was already snowing.

We had snow Wednesday so I didn’t even bother to try yesterday, but today looked to be a good day for a visit. As I was driving in I saw two eagles fly over on their way upstream and I think I saw three altogether. Unfortunately there were also a number other eagle watchers in the canyon and it didn’t take very long before the great birds were quite agitated and difficult to photograph. When I patrol the canyon I like to slowly drive up and down without continually changing directions to chase the birds. This gives them time to settle down and perhaps catch a fish if they need to eat.

American Dippers Having Fun

I was lucky on one of my stops to spot a pair of American Dippers diving for food along the frozen riverbank. I enjoyed photographing them for a while as they strutted along the bank, dove into the water and chased each other around. At one point one of the little guys even went for quite a swim! He was drifting downriver just like a duck for a few seconds. Eventually he was too far away so I turned the camera back to his mate and was lucky enough to catch her just as she took off. I’ve been trying for so long to get a picture of dipper wings and today I got lucky 🙂 Although they are partial to the shade and it seems there is never enough light to get good detail on their feathers.

Some Colorful Ducks

I don’t usually photograph the ducks, but they were so colorful in the sunshine as they drifted down the frozen river that I had to stop and snap a few. I was kind of hoping they would be some kind of exotic waterfowl, but they were just mallards.Oh well, they were still pretty glistening in the sunshine :)

 

A Few More From the Morning

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