Chilkat River, Alaska
Tuesday, November 17, 2009

    Today began much like yesterday; breakfast at 6:30 am and driving out to the Chilkat Eagle Preserve area at 8:00 am. It snowed again overnight and was a little colder this morning. We were happy to see that our selected viewing area was coated with a layer of fresh snow this morning giving the trees and the riverbanks a new look. Today was colder (high of 28 F) and there was a little bit of wind, but it didn’t snow. Tomorrow is forecast with snow showers and even colder temperatures (high of 27 F on Wednesday and 24 F on Thursday). However, forecasts don’t seem to have much relationship to reality up here.

    The eagles wanted to spend a lot more time sitting in the trees, today, rather that fish along the shore. There were hundreds in the trees. However, with lots of patience, there was plenty to photograph. I was glad for all the layers of clothing today.

    After dinner this evening, we conducted our first group photo critique session. Everyone showed three photos selected from the thousands we each took during the last two days. Everyone is getting some good shots, but it is always possible to find things we would like to have happened differently or captured differently. Our goal over the next couple of days is to try to capture as many different views of the life of the eagles as we can.

    Tomorrow will start the same as usual. After the shooting session, though, we plan to travel further north along the road up to the Mile 33 restaurant for an early dinner – just to have a change.

    Now it is time to shut down the computer and get some rest. Standing, bending, and staying warm tired everyone out pretty completely today. Standing and working out in sub-freezing weather for seven hours straight makes all of our joints stiff and freezes our muscles. It is laughable to see us trying to climb into the Ford Expeditions at the end of the day!