At any time we saw no less than 60 eagles feeding on salmon, perched in trees, on the gravel bars or sailing overhead. The females are always larger then the males. Bald eagles mate for life and usually lay two eggs. Eaglets hatch between May and June and are ready to leave the nest in early September. The young eagles remain brown for five years before getting their distinctive white head and tail.
Eagles have eyesight eight times greater than the human eye.
Bald eagles can reach speeds up to 100 mph in a dive and catch a variety of prey but prefer fish. While feeding, eagles will eat as much as 2 pounds a day. The abundance of salmon and the open water of the Chilkat attract the eagles here in the winter, although 200-400 make their home in the Chilkat valley in the warmer season. During the brief summer, snow pack and glacial melt flow into the gravel beds at a faster rate than it can escape, creating an alluvial fan reservoir. Chum salmon by the thousands swim up Lynn Canal and into the Chilkat River to spawn their next generation before dying.