Hornby Island Eagles

One thing about Hornby Island that some people might over look is the amount of Bald Eagles that call the little island home.

Recently on a trip to Helliwell Provincial Park, Robyn and I came across and adult bald eagle perched in a tree. This particular raptor was lower than they sit typically so getting a few dozen photographs of him (or her) was not too painful.

He just sat there moving his head a little bit as Robyn and I stood there watching. We only hung out for about 20 minutes hoping he would take flight. The photo above is about a 50% crop overall, so if I had a larger lens, imagine the results.

Robyn took the above photos of me taking the eagle’s photos. Helps give you an idea of how low he was to the ground. Might not seem low, but for an eagle (to me) this is pretty low. For Robyn, this is also the closest she has been to a wild bald eagle.

We walked away and headed to a section of the bluffs that look over the water; a great place to sit and enjoy the view.

This time a younger bald eagle flew past us. You can tell it is younger due to the colouring on the head; it isn’t entirely white yet. This particular photo is a 100% crop, so the original shows the eagle quite small.

I am always on the look out for the eagles no matter where we are on Hornby Island. As long as we’re near the shoreline, we can typically 1 to 2 eagles in the vicinity. We cannot wait till the bald eagles head over to Brackendale though, that too is an impressive thing to see.