Eagle Watching Day Trip!

Each year from about mid December through mid February, the eagles fly down from British Columbia, escaping the cold weather up there and in search of spawning salmon along the Skagit River near Cascades National Park. We drove up there today in hopes of spotting a few of these beautiful majestic birds. We weren't disappointed! We must have seen at least 20 or more as we eagerly searched the bare limbs of trees along the river. It was like an Easter egg hunt, all of us looking to see who could spot the next one. We found a few close enough to the road to get a few nice photos. This was the first guy we spotted.

There are several areas along the river where volunteers for the Forest Services set up telescopes focused on a particular eagle. When you look through these telescopes you feel like you can reach out and touch them. They are such a beautiful site! These eagles fly and eat in the early morning, but by late morning they soon find a tree limb to perch on, and they usually stay put for hours on end. They are said to be conserving their energy for their eventual flight back to Canada.

One of the many eagles we saw in the distant trees. I just loved all the fog mingling through the mountains today!

We continued to drive along the North Cascades Highway eventually reaching the national park. This is such a pretty place. Everywhere you look there are beautiful cascades...

... and gorgeous water falls.

The North Cascades Highway eventually runs up through Winthrop, a neat little western town my son and I visited a couple of years ago. And then it goes across the state. That is...during the summer months. But not today!

Nothing like parking your car in the middle of the road. (That's my hubby sticking his tongue at me!)

But you can park in the middle of the road when you happen upon this!

They close the road across the mountains going to Winthrop each winter. So, we turned the car around and headed back out of the park and back toward the eagles, stopping for those perfect photo opportunities along the way. This was an ice covered pond.

I love unique trees, and this area is filled with these wonderfully eerie moss covered trees! Most are bare branches just completely covered with bright green moss! Like these....

...and these...

However, this one below was so odd and beautiful with the evergreen leaves and the moss covered branches. Such a contrast in greens!

As we drove back toward the eagles, several hours had passed since we first saw them. Most of them were STILL perched in their very same place. However, it was getting late in the afternoon and by about 4-5 o'clock they would head for sheltered areas to roost for the night.

We found these two birds on the way back. Can you spot the eagle? The other bird perched on a limb was thought to be an Osprey.

We continued on and decided to stop at a quaint little town called La Conner, situated at the mouth of the Skagit River. It has a beautiful historical downtown along the river, and we found a most delightful seafood restaurant to have dinner overlooking the water. I'm already planning a trip back here one weekend, as I saw many cute shops and antique stores I MUST visit!

Well, that was our day eagle watching! It was a wonderful day trip and we had such a good time!

Oh...I wanted to also share with you a few more Valentine's Day prims I just finished up. This is probably it. I will start on spring and Easter prims soon. You can find these on my website.

Hope you enjoyed your ride along today on our eagle watching trip! ~~Annie