Eagles, eagles everywhere

I enjoyed a weekend in Lynden, WA, recently with my dear friend Carol. Met some more of her local friends and danced at the Bellingham contra. It was one of those special set of days with weather, folks and food that made it quite memorable.

North Fork of the Nooksack River... eagles looked like
sparrows there were so many of them!!!

My friend drove me to this magical place where the eagles were taking turns getting dinner from the river... I want to go back there because I needed more time to watch them and their patterns for better photos.

This is what it means to get "the eagle eye."

They seemed to be unaffected by the hoards of folks snapping digital shots of them.

I am using these photos to get a better artistic sense of these glorious birds as I have an eagle in a tree acrylic painting I am working on.

After an hour we left, as did almost everyone else, but there were still a lot of birds... truly wonderful and great for children to see this national bird up close.

Beautiful to see them in flight so closely!

I think this is a juvenile, but I bow to the orthnologists.

To get to this location, you head up to Bellingham and get off I-5 just after the main city exits. Head up toward Mount Baker and look for the Mosquito River Road. Or just ask the folks who live there; they know where they are. I will try and post an actual map.

There are a fair number of eagles in Sequim, too, and regularly people blame the disappearance of their cats and small dogs on some 'napper, but it's just these hungry birds of prey looking for a good lunch. 

I have them in the trees around my home, too. I just don't seem to catch them as easily as I did on this particular journey.

And the only caution is not to let your little dog Toto run around near the river... easy pickin's.

By the way, if you are going to make this trip, absolutely do not miss out on ACME. 

Go into the little general store there and get the local ice cream. It is so delicious, you will be planning your next trip with a freezer truck.