More Eagles

Last Sunday found me out in the Dungeness area doing a photo assignment for my digital photography class. It was near sunset and I thought I'd check out the Cline Spit to watch the sun go down and see if I could pick up an image or two. Glad I did.

As I approached from the east on Marine Drive I noticed a couple of cars parked near the eagle's nest that I wrote about in my last post. Obviously they were trying to get a cool sunset image or just enjoying the evening with other birders. I decided to continue to the Cline Spit. As it is only a few hundred yards further west from the nest, I wasn't expecting what I came across. Five eagles were riding the stiff breeze that was pouring into the Strait from the west, hitting the bluffs to create an uplift of air for the eagles to ride. And they were riding the wind and doing aerial acrobatics like crazy! I stopped the car quickly at the intersection of Cline and Marine, jumped out of the car and started shooting. After a little bit they decided to either land in a tree or go harass a bunch of seagulls that were floating together near shore at the boat ramp of Cline Spit.

 

Eagle landing in tree on bluff overlooking Cline Spit near Sequim, Washington

 

I waved to some people in a car who passed me while shooting. The look on their face was not one of friendly appreciation that I had parked the car in half of the lane and they had to go around me. Oops! Back in the car and down the hill I went to see what the eagle that was chasing the seagulls was up to.
He gave me plenty of opportunities for good shots as he cruised with the wind back and forth up the beach and each time he returned to the same spot where all the seagulls had circled the wagons so to speak and would dive down toward the swimming gulls and scatter them. A couple brave seagulls took turns diving on the eagle as it went up the beach and turned back to make another run on the floating gulls. It reminded of a time many years ago when I was fishing in a boat off the Dungeness spit and another eagle was leisurely flying down the beach line when a flock of seagulls came up to meet it and started to do the same thing. Taking turns diving on the eagle and staying just above and behind it. One much braver soul decided to come a bit closer than the others and, well you know what happened, the eagle like the aerial gymnast that they are, did a lightening quick 180 degree turn with his body. Dang, if he didn't grab that gull with his talons and did another 180 and rode that poor gull all the way down to the beach for a quick lunch. Of course this made his friends go berserk! It didn't seem to matter to the eagle as he tore into his lunch.

So remembering what had happened years ago, I was looking for the same kind of reaction from this eagle to his would be tormentors if they got too close. Not this evening though. I did get a couple shots of him diving on the other gulls.
After a while he got tired of playing this game with the seagulls and let the wind pick him up, shooting him high in the air and then took a perch near where the other eagles had landed along the bluff line.
All in all a good trip out to the Dungeness to enjoy one of nature's wonders... the eagle.