I have lived in Spokane (which is about 30 minutes from Coeur d' alene) for over 30 years. Mike and I have never made the trip over to Coeur d'alene, ID to see the bald eagles that arrive in the winter to eat the fish that have spawned in the lake. Now that I have made the trip I will do it every year. Mike and I left home about 7:00 AM and arrived at one of the viewing sites around 8:15. We stayed for 3 hours watching these amazing birds. 9-12 pound birds with a wingspan of 6 to 8 feet. The pictures really do not show how huge they are.
This is a young bird in the tree. It takes up to 4 years for all the white to appear on the bald eagles. Some of these pictures are blurry but I am including them anyway. The close up pictures I took through our spotting scope with my little point and shoot camera. The more picture I took the better I got so the pictures get clearer as you go along. The picture above and below were not taken through the scope.
This one was not taken through the scope.
Here is one of the first scope pictures. This eagle was about three or 4 blocks from us up in a tree.
Swooping down to get fish right in front of us.
Three in the air
Anytime a picture has the dark ring around the outside it was taken through the spotting scope.
This was taken through the scope and the thing around Mr. Eagle's beak was actually on the lens of the scope.
The back end of an eagle. Can you find him?
Here is the ranger that helped us learn about the eagles. The banner is a model of life size adult eagle. Huge wing span!
A section of Lake Coeur d' alene! This was the viewing area. There were a lot of birds roosting off to the left in the trees!
Bald Eagles everywhere!
These are what the eagles came for!
I told you the pictures got better!!!
I know this picture is blurry but he was so big I had to add it to the blog!
When were first came to this viewing area there were about 6 of us. It got pretty crowded by the time we left! This picture was taken about an hour into our time there.
Can you find all 6 eagles?
When Mike found this eagle through the scope I had to take a picture! You can see all of his individual feathers!
I think these eagles are looking at all the people wondering what we are doing.
Look closely and you can see a fish hanging below the branch!
Just as we were getting ready to leave we heard a gun shot in the distance. Then another one. (Still duck hunting season). The eagles took off out of the trees. We thought there were about 50 eagles in the area but we soon found out that was a low estimate. Take a look at how the numbers grow in these pictures. There were a few birds in the group that weren't eagles but not many!
Look at all the dark spots!
3 hours flew by. What a great place to live! Not only do we have an abundance of wildlife and beautiful scenery we have great coffee! Some lunch and coffee hit the spot. It was chilly out watching the eagles.
Mike loves his food!
I am reading a good book about how great God really is. I know I take my surroundings for granted way too often. Just being outdoors today in such a beautiful spot surrounded by such beautiful creatures reminded me of just how GREAT God is. Greater than we can even imagine! We are so thankful for all of it!
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