[bcurrie]

I had mentioned a while ago that this is THE month to see Bald Eagles in Utah. Here is just a glimpse of what I saw yesterday. I am providing a link vs. an attachment to save Steve's bandwidth. Sorry for the poor lighting, it was the end of the day and clouding up. I will try to get one with better lighting in the next couple of weeks. I saw at least one hundred yesterday. Not nearly that many in this photo, but how many can you see? http://www.pbase.com/image/12525551/original

My Gosh Brian you must have been on sensory overload!!! What an incredible sight...
Come on you were really excited over this number weren't you?
Did you get some close-ups?

[IanF]

What a sight, so many roosting together !

Whereabouts were they, if it's not a trade secret ? I have a friend who travelled to somewhere near Cedar City a couple of weeks ago to them amassing, but there were only a few there.

[KCFoggin]

Having never seen a one Brian, I cannot fathom seeing this many at one time. I believe I would have been standing there with my mouth opened wide the whole time.

[Nikon_Boy]

It is so cool to see so many Eagles when you are physically there.

Thanks for sharing your shot Bcurrie.

Here are some from my somewhat blurry shots on my last Eagle outing.

http://www.birdforum.net/forums/show...&threadid=2307

[paula]

Well Brian,
That is more eagles than I could ever hope to see.
Mesmorising, amazing.
I counted 31 but might easily have missed one on the way.
Mind you, we, on our Slimbridge outing saw 200.000, yes, 200.000 starlings coming in to roost,.........beat that!
(See Post Mortem on Slimbridge thread)

[ariddle]

Brian, are you sure you didn't go to Alaska for this shot?! I had no ideas Utah got so many eagles. Is this normal, or is this year unusual?

[bcurrie]

Gaye, thanks. Yes, I was definitely excited. No close ups. There are no blinds and so the Eagles can see you coming from a mile away. (You can see that there is not a lot of cover.) Sometimes they can spook when I am standing even this far away.

Ian, thanks. Yes Cedar City is about 4 hours south of here. That is getting pretty far south for these fellas, but one can see them. No trade secret. This is at Farmington Bay, my favorite bird hangout. Come over here next February and I'll be glad to show you.

KC, you are right. No matter how many times I see these, it is always awe inspiring.

TonyK, you win! There are 32 visible. There are actually more in the water in the background, but you would have to be there with binocs to know they are there. (They are the larger specs in the water). It is a sight to behold.

Nikon_Boy, I missed your eagle shot earlier. It looks like you were able to get relatively close (75+ yards is relatively close). And I could see the juvenile in the group photo! Great camouflage.

Paula, I hope everyone had good head gear! Wow, 200,000. Boggles the mind, but I must admit, I don't want that many Starlings here. But that must have been very impressive.

Alicia, I can assure you this was taken right here in Utah, about 20 minutes from my house. You are right, this is not normal. This is LESS than usual. The warm weather has not brought as many south as usual. Normally there are twice this many. In Utah you can always see Bald Eagles from end of October to mid-March.

Brian, the lad from Germany (Chris )posted a great site of a lady in Alaska that has eagles at her place and she allows photographers NEAR!
All over we read the numbers are down this year;in fact the decline has been over the last three years. Have you stats to bear this fact out in Utah?

NikonBoy interesting stats listed on the northern BC eagle counts.. declining the last three years. Do you think that this is cyclical?Great site you posted the URL to,thanks.

[Cindy M]

what a great photo Brian- I counted 31.. What a thrill to see so many at once, although one lone eagle sighting is enough to make my day. Their numbers are ever increasing here in Michigan, and we've been sighting them with regularity all winter long- the snowfall has been low compared to most years and they're doing well on carrion. We're fortunate to have a mated pair that return to a nest near our home each year, a nest as large as a volkswagon. Aleady one lone adult is sitting near the nest despite the bitter cold temps. so the circle of life is about to begin again soon. Thanks for sharing your wonderful photo.

[Sal]

Terrific sight Brian, Thanks

[Vogelman]

Brian, what a fantastic photo opportunity!! It's nice to see that the conservation story of the American Bald Eagle has been one of generally great success over the past couple of decades. Hopefully any decline noted over the past three years is only cyclical.

Vogelman

[bcurrie]

Gaye, yes I watched the attachment that Chris had. Very amazing. That would be wonderful to do, must put on "things to do before I die list" (hopefully I will have about 40 years to do so!) The eagles will start departing the beginning of March, and so I will see what numbers the biologists have come up with. To date, I have not heard of any decline in numbers here, though with this warm weather it is hard to say because we do usually have more.

Thanks Cindy. We do not have regular nesting pairs here. There have only ever been four recorded nests in Utah. I have been told that Utah's habitat is less than ideal for nesting. I would love to see the nest. TonyK is probably right about the bird that is harder to see.

Thanks Sal. Appreciate you looking.

Vogelman, thanks. It is great. However, the week before (Feb 1) there were at least 52 eagles feeding a little further south. They were on the ground, on the shore of this huge fresh water pond. I was not able to get close, as they had it blocked off. They were about 1/4 of a mile away. So I took a panaroma, thinking I would post it here, but it came out so poorly (due to distance and poor lighting conditions) that I did not post it. You can tell that they are eagles, though. I agree, the eagle is a definite success story of what conservation and preservation can do. You are probably aware that the eagle has done so well they want to take it off of the endangered species list, which I would rather not happen for 10 or 20 years to come.

[bcurrie]

Gaye (and others who have an interest),

I have looked into your question, including my outing today, on whether or not eagle counts are down this year. Well, I was out at Farmington Bay with my son Christopher, and a conservative estimate would be that we saw 275 Bald Eagles. A birding friend of mine reports he saw 387 this past Thursday, and the biologists report they saw 341 this past Tuesday. All of this pertains to Farmington Bay. The biologists report these are the HIGHEST counts they have ever had. No good photo opps to really show this off. Literally, every where we went, there were eagles. All between 100-300 yards away.

Back a bit a fellow named Nikon Boy posted a site on the eagles north of Squamish BC and the tallies for the last three years have been in decline in that particular area. Now Lee looked into this further and by all indications as per the wildlife management teams; it is suggested that this is a cyclical issue with those numbers. I understand that the very opposite is true in other areas. In any case, it is absolutely wonderful to hear of the numbers in Farmingtom Bay.
Brian we are definitely going to be stopping by on our way through there one day soon!

[bcurrie]

Gaye,

If you want to see the Eagles in these numbers, then make sure you come in February. But starting in November I can show you eagles any time. If you want, give me a couple weeks notice and I will be glad to show you around. They will all leave by mid-March, maybe earlier if this mild weather holds up.

Thanks Brian.. we are in the PLAN stage of a trip in our future and we will be coming that way on our way south.. it all depends on world events and that kind of thing. I shall look forward to anytime that you and Lee can tag team me with your Pro 90's!!!