Subject: Re: Best place for eagles?
Date: Aug 11 19:41:35 1996
From: Kelly McAllister - alleyes at mail.tss.net


At 04:23 PM 8/10/96 -0700, Arlene Sopranzetti wrote:
>I have guests arriving at the end of August/early Sept. that would like
>to see Bald Eagles and Salmon. Any suggestions?

To Arlene and others thinking about these questions:

I think that late August/early September is usually the low point in the
cycle of
bald eagle numbers in Washington. Beebe, in his book "The Falconiformes of
British
Columbia" wrote about the annual post-breeding season journey that takes
Washington
bald eagles to southeast Alaska or northern British Columbia to feed on the
early
salmon runs. These eagles move south with the progressively later and later
runs and, eventually, are back in Washington. When I read this I wondered
"How does he know this?". The pattern of bald eagle numbers in Wahington
indicated that the birds were very hard to find at this time of year and,
therefore, supported Beebe's hypothesis.

Now that satellite transmitters are being used on bald eagles, these northward
post-breeding season movements have been confirmed. This is not to say that
there
are too few bald eagles at this time of year to be able to find one. I
would take
the ferry to Friday Harbor, scanning the shorelines along the way. On San
Juan island,
you might see bald eagles almost anywhere but Cattle Point and False Bay are
good bets.

Salmon runs at this time of year are well underway but, to my knowledge,
there are few
fish in the small streams where they can be easily seen. An exception would
probably be the Cedar River, where the sockeye should be visible spawning in
all their flaming glory. The viewing windows at the Chittendon locks in
Ballard should have fish as well, likely Chinook salmon. Olympia has its
salmon run through Capital Lake and on up the Deschutes River to the
concrete spawning ponds. These fish can be viewed at 5th Avenue dam or
being spawned at Tumwater Falls Park.

Kelly McAllister
alleyes at mail.tss.net