Eagles in the Lowermainland

Speaking of eagles, when I was young my father took me to serve at a seniors camp outside Squamish called Paradise Valley. It was owned by the North Vancouver school district and the United Church would rent it out in the summer for a seniors camp. One day I was cutting through the staff room and saw a picture on the wall. It was a tree with a dozen eagles sitting in it.

I was like where is that? They said it's right here. There are a lot of eagles that come here in the winter. I had never been there in the winter and I had never seen that many eagles in one spot before. Paradise Valley is right beside Brackendale which is called the bald eagle capital of North America. In the winter the eagles come to feed on the rotting chum carcasses after they have spawned. It peaks around December 15th to January 15th.

Several years ago I joined the Fort Langley canoe club. I really liked the Dragon boat but preferred the voyager canoe because we would go on trips instead of just practicing a sprint back and forth. That's how I found out about the Wigeon creek paddle and the Wigeon falls hike.

One time we went on a trip down the Harrison River mid November. We put in at Harrison lake and paddled down to Kilby. It was cold and wet but really nice. There were tons of salmon carcasses. We don't really eat Chum so there are lots lying around. When I saw all the salmon carcasses I said I wounder if we'll see any eagles. In Brackendale the eagles feed on the salmon.

As soon as I said that we came around a bend and saw three trees full of large birds drying their wings. The way the sun was shining we could just see silhouettes and they looked all black. I asked if they were vultures. Then as we got closer you could see the white heads. They were bald eagles. I was like wow. I found a picture I took of one of those trees with the eagles that I put in a YouTube video of sites around Vancouver to the song Wondering where the Lions are.

I've gone back on my own several times since. I put the kayak in at Kilby mid November and paddle up the river past the bridge were it spreads out very wide and very shallow. The big boats can't go up there and you see eagles everywhere. There's a good viewpoint at a gazebo on the golf course but with a kayak you get get up close. Eagles are majestic but peaceful. If you get too close they don't panic they just calmly fly away. They don't like being too close to people.

I suppose this I'll miss but I remember last time I went it was starting to get very busy. They had tour boats roaring up the river with loud music playing. Somehow I think they missed the point. If you're bird watching you're supposed to be quiet. If you make too much noise they just fly away.

Then I saw a helicopter land at the golf course and I was like AYFKM? Eagle watching in a helicopter? That is ridiculous. All that noise will scare them away.

I see there's another version of the eagles learning to fly story. One is an allegory about the mother nudging the young eagle out of the nest so it will learn to fly. In a sense the Fraser Valley has been my eagle's nest. This is where I grew up. The rising cost of housing is nudging me out of the nest so to speak so I will be able to soar once again like many others leaving Vancouver.