Andrée Fredette

Nature reveals itself in patterns, when you live on the windy West Coast… Since late December, I have noticed the return of the big birds. They are busy doing aerial acrobatics, there is a lot of high-pitched peeping (like Mike Tyson, eagles are big and mean-looking, but their “voice” is a high-pitched bell-like sound…). I presume these sounds and aerial displays are discussions over territory. There are quite a few bald eagles around Saturna.

Some birds - like the ravens – never leave the island, but bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) head for the salmon rivers of BC in the fall. During that season, those rivers are true all-you-can-eat buffets for eagles and other wildlife. For pictures of that, see my November post about Goldstream, near Victoria.

This set of pictures was taken from my deck, yesterday. First, an adult perched on that tree for almost 30 minutes in the early afternoon. Surveying the neighbourhood, trying to decide if anything edible might be around. Love those piercing yellow eyes, don’t you?

Then, four hours later, while fixing dinner, I spotted the next visitor to the same tree. An immature bald eagle. According to the bird books in my collection, immature eagles only acquire the full white feathers on the head and tail by their fifth year, less frequently when they are four years old… So Junior, below, was probably following mommy around.

I left my cooking to get my camera, and get some pictures of Junior too. It was getting dark, so they are a bit grainy.  If you are curious about their flight speed, wing span, etc., visit the bald eagle link I provided above. If you would like to check out eagle web cams (keeping an eye on the nests), click on this CBC page. And here is a direct link to an eagle nest cam in White Rock, BC.