January 7th 2009.
The winter of 2008/9 was not a good winter for the local wintering eagles at Yakumo. A very poor autumn salmon run meant a shortage of food, this adult White Tailed Eagle did at least manage to find a rotting salmon to eat but it was harried mercilessly by the attending crows.
This was snapped from a bridge, most of these scenes (I guess) are usually on inaccessible parts of the river or places where it isn't safe to sop the car. The eagle must have been really hungry to feed so close to the road. Several dead eagles were found in the area apparently starved to death, in the same month I remember seeing a dead adult Stellers Sea Eagle floating in the sea at Sawara.
Wow still you manage a quite nice shot even if it was not a good year. Awesome!!!
ReplyDeleteI worry about both eagle species not having enough food. I've read about it many times before. You're observations are very tragic but important. When I visited Shiretoko we spoke to one of the locals who said eagle numbers were declining dramatically. Do you feel the same with what you've witnessed in your area?
ReplyDeleteHi Russell, actually this year, in Yakumo at least, there seem to be plenty of eagles (autumn 2009 was a very good salmon run).
ReplyDeleteI went to Shiretoko last winter and there weren't as many eagles as I was expecting, like you said the locals say there are fewer these days.