Community Chat

[Kachina624]

@Foxxee   I bet it was taken in Haines, Alaska.  It's a great winter gathering place for eagles.  You often see pictures of large groups but they usually don't arrange themselves so artfully. 

[Boomernichols]

@Foxxee Glory, glory this is an awesome picture!  I have never seen so many in one area before.

[Enufstuff]

@Foxxee 

          How cool is that?

[just bee]

I saw something similar here in Albuquerque except the "ornaments" were turkey vultures and the tree was a cottonwood.

[just bee]

Except that the turkey vultures were real.

[qvcfreak]

I was expecting a Patriotic tree with flags and red white and blue ornaments and you blew me away @Foxxee 

[just bee]

Eagles weigh anywhere from 8 to 18 pounds.  Sometimes more.  These do not appear to weigh down the branches of the tree.

Just sayin'.

[faeriemoon]

Is that real?  It doesn't look real to me.  The branches would be sagging where the eagles are perched.

[Kachina624]

The foliage is so dense, you can't even see the branches, let alone see if they're sagging.  That looks just like the blue spruce tree in my front yard which has thick heavy branches I could easily stand on. 

[Kachina624]

CHILKAT BALD EAGLE PRESERVE

Driving north on the Haines Highway you will be entering the 48,000 acres of the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve starting at 8 mile and continuing to 31 mile. Pull-outs and a 2-mile riverside trail are established for optimum viewing of wildlife and our winged friends. Created in 1982 to protect one of the world’s largest concentrations of bald eagles and their critical habitat along with sustaining and protecting the salmon runs in the Chilkat River. To further highlight the Haines Highway the state of Alaska recognized that portion as a state scenic byway in 1998 then it became a national scenic byway in 2009. Fishermen will gather at the Chilkat River in the fall hoping to fill their coolers with their subsistence fall catch of salmon.

Haines is known as “The Valley of the Eagles.” Year-round resident eagles total approximately 400 but the population rises to over 3,500 in the months of October through December when a late run of chum salmon in the Chilkat River produces a feast for these magnificent raptors. This natural occurrence is highlighted each November with the Alaska Bald Eagle Festival which is put on by the Eagle Foundation, featuring guided eagle viewing, educational tours, programs, and photo workshops for all ages.