Springing into the Season....Bald Eagles Put on Teen Fashion Show!

Cruising casually to the surface...

Ahhh, back to "Spring" in the San Juans...which can be much like summer...depending on the year.  At any rate, the clouds roll in, rain rains, then lets up...a small southerly breeze, but none the less we are off the dock at noon.

No end of drama on this trip!  First,  we arrive at the top of San Juan Channel, looking for fins and more.  I spy two submerged Steller sea lions diving in a kelp bed.  Occassionally a flipper shows on the surface.  Something must be very interesting underwater.  We move on a little further and come across three of these amazing sea lions engaged in sport fishing.  From the looks of his mouth, he got the prize!

Right before the dive...

Yum!  Salmon snacks!

This successful fishing expedition brings a flurry of bird activity, with three Bald eagles hovering and diving toward the sea lions.

Adult checking out the booty.

A little further down the island shore we find juvenile Bald eagles watching the water patiently.  The coloration of the immature eagles is so distinctly different from the flashy bright white and solid chocolate brown of the adults.

It takes four to five years for the adult coloration to appear.  As 1st year birds the beak is dark and the body two shades of brown.

No so patient youngster?

 As a 2nd and 3rd year bird the outfit changes to more white marks on the abdomen, and the top of head sports a little white.  There is a trendy white triangle on the upper back to add to the style.  The bill though is still gray.

Can you see my white triangle back pattern?

As the bird matures to a 4th year the head becomes a dingy white and sometimes they are lucky enough to show off with a dark eye liner!  There are some white spots on the body and the beak is now mostly yellow with a bit of a dark smudge added for drama on the yellow lipstick.

Very fashionable 4 year old!

And now...drum roll please...a little further down the island I spot an adult Bald eagle on the shore.

Serious business pose

It has been raining today off and on up to this point.  I wonder if working in these weather conditions has something to do with the dirty looking feathers around the beak?  The tail feathers are definitely bright white, the main body is a dark brown and this eagle sports both a bright yellow bill and eyes, all markers of full adult, five years or older.

This flashy and bold bright white head and snowy white tail feathers, added to a dark chocolate colored body with bright yellow legs and beak, announce the presence of this beautiful raptor.  Then there is the size thing!   Bald eagles can be almost 3 feet tall with a wing span of 6-1/2 to 7-1/2 feet.  The males weigh in on the scale from 7 - 10 pounds and the females take pride in tipping the scales as high as 15 pounds!  Yes, females are larger than males, and that is about the only way you can tell them apart.  Their costumes are exactly the same!

Today we find our eagle count at 12, with at least 8 being immature birds.  What a great aray of coloration they display!

Anyone interested in watching an "eagle cam" set up to allow us live streaming watching of a Hornby Island (Canada) nest?

Here's the link:       http://www.hornbyeagles.com/webcam.htm

Two eggs are in the nest!


There are other signs of Spring in the San Juans today.  The exotic game animals on Spieden Island have many new additons to their herds.  Here's a Mouflon lamb and a male Mouflon sporting trendy antlers.  Oh yes, and the bright green grass is adorned with purple wildflowers.

Newest Mouflon addition

Everybody's gotta scratch sometime!

Our scanning on the water added several more lines to our list of sightings today.  We found an Elephant seal and 3 Dall porpoise...all in shy mode.  There were Rhinocerous auklets, Pigeon guillemots, Cormorants and Gulls popping up here and there.  But, the big black fins were no where to be seen today.

One of my favorite parts of this trip was a 7 year old boy.  He took pride in spotting eagles and calling out "Adult or Juvenile" by noticing the coloration.  He also had a lot of questions about sharks.  His 5 year old sister, a ballerina for sure, was just as interested.  Both kids had great questions.  Baby brother, only 7 weeks old, slept peacefully the whole trip!

Amazing day!