Eagle Watching

Every winter, hundreds of eagles come to the Skagit River to feast upon the spawning salmon. We drove about 2 hours northeast of Seattle into the foothills of the Cascade Mountains to see some of the majestic birds.

It was cold and gray, but that is apparently better viewing weather for eagles. When it's warm and sunny, they soar up and ride the thermal currents. A few professional photographers (with enviable cameras & lenses) were there as well as bird watchers. They told us the majority of the eagles had moved on to other sites; we were about a week or so late. We did manage to see, at a distance, about 10 eagles, mostly sitting in the trees. There are two eagles in each photo below.


Here are some close ups on the eagles.

One eagle did fly ovehead and I was able to snap a series of pictures of it. With a little computer wizardry, I was able to make this panoramic photo.

We also saw a great blue heron standing on a tree stump near the river's edge. It stood very nicely for me to take its picture.


There was a bit of snow on the ground, so we romped around with Diva Dog. We drove to a park recommended in our dog guide to let her stretch her legs (and ours) for a while. We saw some amazing trees, ferns, and other foliage.


It never ceases to amaze me how green this state is year round. I'm also frequently amazed by the natural beauty here.