While at our cabin on Hornby Island a couple of weeks ago, we had quite an experience watching several eagles eat on the rocks below us. The way in which it all took place was absolutely amazing to watch, the order of things in their world was very evident.

It all started with an unfortunate mistake on my part, the weekend before I hadn’t quite closed the freezer compartment of the fridge – arriving Friday night to find it slightly ajar, the food inside (thank heavens there wasn’t very much in there yet!) was cold but with it having been a full five days I wasn’t about to take any chances in using it. The two larger items were a uncooked whole chicken and pre-cooked whole chicken, I was so annoyed with myself as wasting isn’t something I have ever liked to do! Anyway, Rick had the idea of leaving them out for the eagles to eat, so off he went down to the rocky outcropping below our property and placed them for the birds. We had the camera ready and sat down to wait for the show…. it took longer than we thought, especially being that there was one eagle in sight down the beach perched in the trees.

First the crows (or they may have even been Ravens) started circling and dropping down to the the rocks to check the chickens out – they seemed to be hesitant, not knowing what this new food was. As soon as they were comfortable enough to get close, the immature eagles start coming in for a look and the minute they began to eat the mature eagles started arriving. All the while you could hear them calling out to each other. These first few shots will give you an idea of the frenzy…

It was such a sight to have so many eagles landing and taking off, they were so excited and worked up –

You could certainly tell who was the boss in this crowd – the mature eagles stand out as being well respected by the youngsters!

 I couldn’t believe how well these two photos turned out, I was taking so many so quickly I really didn’t know how any of them would turn out – so was very pleased with the results.

After awhile the eagles all seemed to settle down, the crows felt more comfortable trying to get back into the action and there was still chicken left to share.

Until they were all done and started to fly off in search of their next opportunity….

One last shot that may give you even more of an idea of the fun we had watching this show of nature at its best…

I think his smile tells / ends the story!