Lake Cruise (photo intense)

Each year the American Bald Eagle stops at a rather large and very beautiful lake in a neighboring state during their migration down from Canada. Their stop at this lake coincides with the annual spawning of the Kokanee salmon. The eagles start arriving during November. By Christmas Day they number in the hundreds. As you can imagine it is something to see.

Yesterday my loving hubby and I were fortunate enough to be part of one of the first "eagle viewing" cruises being offered by the Bureau of Land Management. We were on the morning cruise. It was an overcast, foggy day with a biting wind.....so we made sure to dress warmly. There was no way I was going to miss seeing the eagles because I was cold.  :)  We were joined by two other couples (friends) so it made for a wonderful cruise.

On the way out we got to hear a bit about the Bald Eagles. Once we got to the viewing area it was all you could do to not miss seeing an eagle. My hubby and I braved the weather and went up top of the boat. I was busy taking photo after photo, while my hubby was pointing out bird after bird. "Did you see that one?" "Did you get that shot?" "There are two there!!" "Three here!" It was crazy, amazing, awe-inspiring, and incredibly beautiful all at the same time. I ended up taking over 150 photos during the time we spent on top of the boat. While the eagle numbers were relatively low ( maybe 30) it was still......wow!!! I can't imagine what it must be like to be out there when the eagle numbers are in the hundreds. I'm hoping to find out though.  :)

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day......