Sunday, January 15, 2006

2006.01.16 - Thetis Lake

This morning was cool and clear, finally a break in the days of rain we've been getting this winter. A kayaking trip was in order!
At Thetis Lake, we put in for what would usually be a two-hour paddle, but nature had other plans and was about to give us an unexpected show only moments from the start of the trip.
Rounding the first point very close to shore, I came almost face to beak with a bald eagle. He was sitting on the rocky shore, between three and four meters away.
He didn't fly away, like a duck or a seagull might have. Instead, he sat and watched me as I was watched him. No doubt he was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. I grabbed my camera and had time to take a picture or two; unfortunately, the glare from the sun off the lake was blinding, and in exactly the wrong position: directly behind the eagle. Any picture that I had taken would have been overexposed, and next to worthless.
The eagle finally had enough and flew off. But it had something in its talons which it dropped in the water as it left. Only then did I realize that I had interrupted the eagle's breakfast; it had dropped a dead cormorant in the water.
It flew to a nearby tree, and perched atop a high branch, perhaps to hoping to add a little something extra to his meal, and I finally got a picture.




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