Eagles and bears are the two critters that most visitors here want to see here in AK— well, maybe I should add whales to the list— but so far my wildlife adventures haven’t achieved greatness.
Here’s an eagle, one of a pair. They were some distance away, but my Canon has a 50-to-one zoom and I was able to get a reasonably coherent image. The problem with the 50:1 is that any movement or hand tremor is going to send the frame dancing all over the place. The Canon has some software that will eliminate any motion or blurring, but still most of my pics find the subjects out of frame. This was the best of the eagle pics.
Shortly after I snapped this, the eagle dived off its limb, zoomed across the Chilkoot River, and dived onto a meadow on the other side, presumably pouncing on a small animal. I don’t know whether the eagle made the kill or not, but I was deeply impressed by the fact that the eagle could see its small target so very far away.
We spotted this brown bear on the banks of the Chilkoot shortly thereafter. As you can see, it was quietly eating a salmon when we showed up. This was taken from a nearby rickety bridge, which our driver very kindly drove across no less than three times so we could get the perfect shot. Unfortunately the bridge was in poor condition and the vehicle bounced a lot. This was the only picture in which the bear was in the frame.
We hope for better photos to come.
