Fighting Over Salmon

Well they were right! There are many more eagles in the morning than in the late afternoon. My brother Steve and I headed up Mt Baker Highway this morning to the eagle watching spot on Mosquito Lake Road. There were eagles everywhere. And photographers too, with really big lenses on tripods lining up the whole area where the viewing was best. I found a spot between two and just planted myself back a bit and began to take photos. I won't say how many I took but it was a lot. And I won't tell you how many I threw away but that was a lot too. I really need to perfect my eagle photography skills. Though I probably won't be able to do that this year as today was the end of the salmon run according to the fellows lined up along the road. They turned out to be quite friendly even though I was not one of the usual gang. The rest seemed all to know each other. Anyhow I got a bunch of terrible photos, some okay photos, some good ones and none that I would say are best of the year photos. But at the end I did get a sequence of photos of one eagle female who had secured a large salmon and managed to fight off most of the other eagles who wanted a piece of her prize. This was just one of the skirmishes that took place as I watched and took photos. Take a look at the large version. It took me a very long time to sort through the photos and get rid of the really bad ones. Then it was hard choosing but this one stood out.

This afternoon we went to a healthcare facility to visit my painting friend Eve. She is having real problems with pain after a fall she had awhile back. We are hoping she will recover quickly but today she was not doing very well at all. Helena, Arvin and I spent some time cheering her up.

I'm heading up to watch some TV. The first of Series four of Downton Abbey is on tonight. We are all looking forward to it!