Bald Eagles navigate through snow storm to hunt

Fall on the West Coast of British Columbia brings some amazing changes to the area. Trees leaves begin to change color, and fall to the ground. Weather in Vancouver also starts to change. From the warm sunny days with bright blue skies to darker and wetter days. Although these weather patterns are not new to the locals, they still make the most of every season and type of weather that this beautiful part of the country brings.Show more

The Coast Mountains are very close to the city, some locations are less than 30 minutes away by car. Be it hiking in the local parks, or mountain biking up at world famous Whistler Blackcomb everything is within a short drive. Another extremely popular area is Squamish. This city is a short 45 minutes from Vancouver, and on the Sea to Sky Highway which is the main route to Whistler. Squamish has two very popular claims to fame. The Stawamus Chief, officially Stawamus Chief Mountain, which is a granite dome located adjacent to the town of Squamish, British Columbia, Canada. It towers over 700 m above the waters of nearby Howe Sound. It is often claimed to be the "second largest granite monolith in the world” and is a very popular location for rock climbers and hikers alike. Whether a casual hiker or hard core climber, “the Chief” has something for you. The next claim to fame is the annual migration of the Bald Eagles that frequent the Squamish area and specifically Brackendale which is a suburban neighborhood of Squamish.

Squamish held the world-record count of 3,769 eagles in 1994 and continues to attract many eagles each year. Why do the eagles come to Brackendale? Well plain and simply they come to feed on the migrating salmon. The salmon venture up the rivers to spawn after spending their time in the ocean. After enduring their time in the oceans, the salmon take on another huge challenge of making their way to the spawning grounds at which they themselves were born. This may seem like a simple challenge, just swim up the creek, find some gravel and sand, deposit your eggs and that's it. This is not quite how it all takes place.

The salmon have to fight their way up over rapids, log jams that can happen in the creeks and rivers, as well as predators. man himself it one predator for the salmon in ways, anglers too are trying to catch some of these tasty fish. Aside from anglers, there are bears, coyotes, wolves, and of course the eagles. If the salmon are lucky enough and have endured all the hardship of their travels they hopefully find the perfect location to lay their eggs which then the male salmon will fertilize, hopefully with success.

Mother Nature is an amazing thing. All the wildlife that Mother Nature encompasses is also simply amazing and many of us take it for granted. Take time out of your busy lives to “smell the roses”. It is times like this we get to enjoy the efforts that videographers like Domenico endure to record footage like this for us all. He endured freezing temperatures, snow and ice and was also blessed with some sunny skies to bring this footage to us. Enjoy and remember, come to Vancouver British Columbia to see all the beauty that the locals see on a daily basis. British Columbia, “the most beautiful place on earth”.