We pulled into this State Recreation Area about 9pm. Oh, did I tell you that we went to bed last night at midnight and it was still light out? Not bright light, but you could walk all around without a flashlight! So anyway, this campground is a little better than most State Camps we’ve seen (which were narrow parking slots that you paid $10 for), we have the Cook Inlet on one side, a small river and meadow on the opposite side, a tall bluff with someone’s house made to look like a Lighthouse on the end, very picturesque!
Looking out over Cook Inlet we can see Mount Redoubt Volcano with a steam plume going on. We were able to camp at the end, near the river and bluff towering over us. In the river, meadow,and soaring above the bluff are at least a dozen Eagles (I counted 12, but may be more). Sandy was in heaven, ran the batteries down on both cameras! These were adults and juvy’s, again dog-fighting, soaring, diving, bathing in the river, perched on stumps, looking all majestic. Our fishing guide said he has watched these guys, and to him they are pretty clumsy, and not much better than Vultures, and they hang out at garbage dumps. I can see where he gets this opinion. The juvy’s are all molted browns and do look like a Vulture. These guys in the meadow next to us look fat, like turkeys, and I hear they eat scraps from the fish cannery in town. These guys look well fed, and so far all I’ve seen them do is play!
Their nest is about three foot in diameter. We’ve seen
several nests with the mother sitting. Did you know that President Washington wanted the National bird
to be the Turkey? One place on the river we saw about 8 Eagles, on the bank and in the air, about half
were juveniles. An Eagle does not get the white head and tail feathers until they are about 4 years old.
I saw several Eagles dog-fighting and one pair of juveniles with their talons locked together wings spread out in a slow spiral heading for the river. After their game of Chicken, they released and climbed out to
continue dog-fighting.
Sandy dragged me outside for a walk on the beach. I can see my breath! The weather has turned, in just an hour. It looks like a stormy night on the water……. The Eagles are down on the beach, near the water line as the tide is coming in, the Seagulls are harassing one but leaves the pack alone.
It’s 11pm and it looks like 7pm in Dallas, Eagles still soaring, bathing in the river… Don’t they have a nest to go to? All in all, a good day. I think Sandy is going to sleep with the Eagles tonight…….
It’s midnight and we are getting ready for bed, although it’s still light out. The parking lot is starting to fill up and guys are walking towards the river like Zombies, all dressed in green. What the hell is going on? So, we got dressed and followed them, must be some Alaskan Clan meeting……. They are lining up along the river, some are in it; the green dress are waders. Then the tide comes in and the water in the river reverses course and flows up, and these guys are all working rods like fly fishing, but not, they are using Salmon eggs and casting up to let it drift down, then repeating. OK, mystery solved, time for bed. The next morning the midnight crew had left but a new day shift showed up. I talked with a few guys and it was determined that the Kings have not arrived in force yet.
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