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A Walk Among Eagles
By Jim Meyer
Since the weather was cooperating today, I decided to take a walk along the Mamquam River which is about 2 blocks from my place in Squamish, British Columbia. This is one of the 3 rivers here where the annual January Bald Eagle count is held.
This year was the lowest number of Eagles since 1990 with only 755 tallied in a six hour period by 50 volunteers. In 1994, a world record of 3769 Eagles were seen! This amazing gathering of Bald Eagles brought global attention to this area and the B.C. Government established the Brackendale Eagles Provincial Park. This years low number is thought to be from the low number of spawning salmon.
Our first spotting was 3 immature Eagles, spaced vertically about 25' apart, in a large cottonwood along the bank of the river. In all, we saw 20 Bald Eagles during our 1 mile walk. The day before, an avid birding friend counted 67 Eagles in the same area.
Another interesting spotting was 3 Mallards working on a salmon that had been deposited on a large log, laying in a spawning channel. Two mature Bald Eagles sitting in a tree above the log were watching the mallards, as if to say "enjoy the salmon, we're full".
We also had 5 American Dippers fishing the spawning channels. One pair allowed us to observe their fishing techniques from a close distance. We observed one Dipper, snorkeling and diving, and then came up with a small fish, probably newly hatched Fry from this years salmon spawning. Another wonderful day of nature in Squamish and then, the slopes are calling tomorrow!
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