Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival
The Annual Bald Eagle Festival
celebrates the eagle and salmon relationship, which takes place at
several viewing sites throughout the Fraser Valley. This is a
series of caches which were placed in areas meant to bring you to
some of these sites. Each will not only provide some
interesting educational activities, but also some spectacular
viewing opportunities. These caches are available year round
and are meant to show case this natural area, which we call
home. Bring your hiking footwear, camera, extra batteries,
spotting scopes and binoculars, there is something to see and enjoy
in all seasons.
The Pacific Salmon
Spawn
The Return of the Salmon and the Bald Eagles
British Columbia is home to five
species of salmon. The Chinook Salmon (King or Spring), is
the largest of the five species, with some fish reaching a weight
of 50 kilograms. The declining Coho Salmon (Silver Salmon) is
more associated with smaller streams. Sockeye, spend part of
their lives in freshwater lakes, and have become famous for their
return to the area. Pink Salmon have a two-year life cycle
that is so consistent that "even-year" and "odd-year" runs are
recognized. Chum Salmon, is widely distributed, and easily
seen at some spawning streams. Also now included in this
genus are the Steelhead Trout, and the Coastal Cutthroat
Trout. Both are sea-run fish, but are not as numerous as
their cousins.
Their life cycles tell a tale that has always captivated people,
and we are witness to parts of the cycle in the rivers and streams
of the Harrison and Fraser River area. Although each of the
five species has a slightly different life cycle, the basic story
is much the same. The young salmon spend the first part of
their lives in the streams where they hatched, moving to salt water
some months later. They then spend a period of several years
growing to adulthood in the food-rich waters of the Pacific
Ocean. When their time comes, they are called back to the
streams where they were born. Their voyage home is nothing
less than epic, across thousands of kilometres of ocean.
Guided largely by smell, they return to their natal streams, some
along the coast, and some far inland along major river
systems. Their bodies now brightly coloured and distorted as
they prepare for spawning, they battle their way past riffles and
chutes, until they arrive at a familiar stretch of riverbed.
Here, the males battle for the right to fertilize the females, and
the females batter their bodies as they dig redds in the gravel in
preparation for egg laying. When they are spent, their
carcasses lie rotting along the riverbanks, providing food for
scavenging birds and mammals, and cycling nutrients back into the
ecosystem. In time, the eggs hatch and a new generation of
tiny salmon begin the cycle again.
The salmon spawning runs also attract other wildlife. Bears
gather at more remote rivers to fatten up for their winter
sleep. Hundreds of Bald Eagles are drawn to streams, shallow
riverbeds and estuaries. Gulls gather by the thousands, too,
gorging on the dead fish.
The Bald
Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a familiar
symbol of wilderness majesty. It is not bald in the sense
that it's head is bare, it has been claimed that the term bald is a
reference to "white-headed". As you might expect, Bald Eagles
eat a lot of fish, and they don't mind if that fish is not
fresh. In fact they prefer the easier lifestyle of feasting
on the rotting dead salmon carcasses that have fulfilled their life
cycle. While the hunting methods of bald eagles are a little
less than glamorous, these birds are exemplary parents to their
young. They will mate for life, and always return to the same
nesting site year after year. These nests can become huge
accumulations of branches, dirt, and the remains of prey.
Most nests produce two young, which are full-grown when they leave
the nest.
Bald Eagles require five or six years to acquire their full adult
plumage. Juvenile birds are dark brown, and are often assumed
to be Golden Eagles. As in most birds of prey, females are
larger than males, and may reach a weight of over five kilograms,
carried by a wingspan of two meters or more.
Bald Eagles may be seen at any
time of the year, but they often gather in large numbers when food
is plentiful. In the spring, when the herring spawn, the
eagles join thousands of seabirds, and marine mammals, off the
coast of Vancouver Island. In the fall and winter, they move
to the salmon streams to feed on the spawned-out fish. The
Chehalis Delta Estuary off of the Harrison River as well as many of
the streams, creeks and tributaries has some of the highest
concentrations of bald eagles in the area. From early
November through to February, thousands of bald eagles gather along
the shores of the creeks and rivers to feast on the eggs and
carcasses of spawned-out salmon.
The Bald Eagle Festival
every November is the start of the viewing season but the feasting
may go on in some years, as late as February. The Christmas
– New Years week usually hosts the peak
numbers.
Please visit www.fraservalleybaldeaglefestival.ca
for more information.
The
Cache
This cache is placed with
permission from all the supporting festival participants and the
location is available year round. We have just moved here
this summer and hope you will enjoy the area as much as we
do.
YOUR TOUR BEGINS HERE, WHETHER
FOR THE ANNUAL BALD EAGLE FESTIVAL OR JUST VISITING OUR GREAT
AREA.
COME STAY AND PLAY FOR A DAY, IT'S YOURS TO
DISCOVER.