Do send in your good photos, please. I know some of you have got them!
Today we have EAGLE photos (the new National Bird) taken by Ronald Kleinknecht. His narrative and captions are indented, and you can enlarge the photos by clicking on them.
I am sending you a series of 11 photos of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) feeding on spawned-out salmon In one of our local Pacific Northwest rivers, the Nooksack. The salmon-feeding extravaganza is an annual ritual for the eagles up here as well for us who love to observe it.
The first nine photos were taken from a bridge about 25 miles upriver and the last two were taken while salmon fishing in Haida Gwuaii, B.C., CA.
Two Eagles perch like sentinels keeping an eagle-eye out for dead salmon along the river.
An eagle surveying from above the river:
Having found a salmon, this eagle is eating slabs at a time. See salmon carcass draped on the log under the eagle and a hunk of pink flesh in its beak. Gulls waits for leftovers:
Apparently it has eaten its fill and is calling for others, probably its mate, to take over:
Another eagle hears the call and drops in, tears off a nice pink hunk and takes off.
Inexplicably, the newcomer drops the slab of salmon into the River and makes no attempt to retrieve it:
After eating, it is time for a little fun. A couple of eagles do some tandem flying maneuvers:
They then moved in for some very close quarters acrobatics:
A few miles upriver we came upon this eagle that did not waste time plucking off hunks salmon flesh. It took this one whole and head-first. Unfortunately, we only got to see the tail end of meal:
This magnificent specimen was cruising along side our boat to snatch a nice Black Cod that we tossed overboard:
Having nailed the cod, it turned around and makes off with a fine meal:
The Bald Eagle has finally become the official National Bird of the United States. After having appeared on the American Seal and many other official presences for over 200 years, this designation was made official on Christmas Eve, 2024, when President Biden signed it into law. How could this have been overlooked for so long. Most all Americans approved of it – except for Benjamin Franklin, who wanted the Wild Turkey.
Such a great vignette – super action shots!
Wikipedia says (as of .. 10 days ago…):
“Contrary to popular legend, there is no evidence that Benjamin Franklin ever publicly supported the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), rather than the bald eagle, as a symbol of the United States.”
I also thought he wanted the turkey – but I guess the “Continental Congress” at the time agreed on the bald eagle for the Great Seal in 1782.
I don’t know when States began naming State Birds…
Cool! Possibly the tandem eagles were in a pair-bonding/mating relationship.
Great shots! We sometimes see tandem displays like that from our house near the Sammamish River in Washington State. Thanks to the Endangered Species Act, the Eagles have landed.
Great collection. Thanks.
Nice tandem displays! Something I have never seen.
Is good to see these fine photos. We have eagles coming around for the Chinook in our drainage (Western Oregon) and especially for the Coho a few weeks later. Historically the Siuslaw River had the largest run of Coho outside of the Columbia River. This year we had a massive ecological restoration effort — valley floodplain reset on our & neighboring properties, object being, among others, to provide winter habitat for Coho. Intense 10 weeks, lots of heavy equipment involved. Many photos, but not suitable for this site. The eagles liked it — an enormous expansion of the confined channel. The fish — a lot more structure & complexity for cover, for spawning & rearing, so we hope for population increase.