An Outing: Nooksack Eagles

By Leslie Parks - Wednesday, January 16, 2019



I have been visiting the eagles every year for the last 4 years and I still don't get tired of seeing them. I pull up to the parking area, shut off my car and start gathering my stuff; camera, camera bag, coat, fingerless mittens, and rain boots. The most important thing I bring outside of my camera is my rain boots.  I usually end up getting my feet wet anyway but they sure do help. I may invest in waders though. Once out of the car with my gear, I start listening. I listen for the screech of the eagles. I imagine being terrified of that sound if I was a small rodent. They talk to one another and it is amazing to hear. I start scanning trees in the direction that the sounds are coming from. Then I walk around, looking for eagles soaring, feeding, or just sitting within camera range and determine the best place to watch. Sometimes, I can get close because of the access to the river. Sometimes I have to be content to view them from afar. People come and go, sometimes chatting, sometimes saying nothing. I watch people as much as I watch the eagles.  There are the professionals with their $3000+ lens, camera, tripod, and camo gear. There are people who show up with their cell phones. Sometimes the cell phones take better photos than the expensive camera! Sometimes people spend time there, sometimes they pull snap a photo, say something about being in the wild Pacific Northwest and leave. They are as entertaining as the eagles. Sometimes you start chatting with someone and then you share a tidbit about timing or location and they share a tidbit about timing and location and then you have another view of the eagles. You see them skimming small creeks with the sun highlighting their white tailfeathers and making the moss dangling off the trees glow. Sometimes, I 've seen the eagles clash their talons and fight over a particular dead salmon. I have come out when they have just been sitting and not active but calling towards each other. I look for them each time I drive down a particular spot on the freeway or a county road. Each time they amaze me and I don't think I will ever get tired of watching them or the people who come to photograph them.










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