It's about eleven degrees and although well layered, I begin to shiver, prompting me to put photography on hold and drink hot tea from a thermos I wisely packed in. It took almost two hours to climb the steep, snow-covered mile up to Sheepy Ridge in the Tule Lake Wildlife Refuge in northeastern California. But when you're into wildlife photography and you've lived most of your life on the East Coast and you've never seen a bald eagle in the wild, you're motivated. So I packed my chains for the car, rented the camera lens for a week, bought a ton of film, and ventured to see the largest concentration of wintering bald eagles in the lower 48 states. Eagles keep returning to Tule Lake because it's a funnel for huge numbers of waterfowl on the Pacific Flyway.
Many waterfowl die from natural and human-made causes, and the eagles take advantage of the carnage.
So every year, between December and March, some 500 bald eagles journey from Alaska to the warmer and abundant feeding grounds of northeastern California and south-central Oregon. I've been in the blind for about four hours. It's basically a rock structure covered with brush and canvas and, judging from its condition, has also served as the local supply depot for every rodent in the area. Other mantras involved remembering other photo gear, and stuff to keep me warm like a thermos of tea. Work Outdoors at GORP Jobs Click Here.