17th Annual Bald Eagle Festival is in the books.

The 17th annual Bald Eagle Festival has come and gone.  Weather wise it could have been better ~ but it also could have been worse….

Saturday, was dry until about 1 in the afternoon, while Sunday it rained pretty much all day but at least the threatened winds never materialized.

The official count (done by David Hancock) was nearly a record, Sunday’s count was about 150 less…  never the less there were lots of eagles out there, clearly visible through the set up spotting scopes, to thrill those not lucky enough to be able to see them every day.

‘Sonsie’ the Bald Eagle was on site for a few hours both days.  With the exception of last year, Sonsie, who is now 10 years old, has attended each festival since he was 9 months old.  Each year O.W.L. (Orphaned Wild Life), which is located near Boundary Bay, makes the trek out here, both days, to give guests an up close and personal view of a mature Bald Eagle. (Last year Sonsie visited a different site during the festival)

This year, along with Sonsie, they brought on Saturday….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a non-releasable Barred Owl

 

and on Sunday, this tiny Northern Saw-whet Owl.

Of course the days weren’t without some problem….Saturday a brief power outage was experienced right in the middle of one of the talks and Sunday the duck hunters decided to put on a show as there was more duck hunting taking place on this one day than there had been during the entire duck hunting season last year.  Fortunately there were also a lot of officials from various agencies to witness…which perhaps will help eventually towards the cause of getting the area protected.

One final note:  while heading to my ‘job’ during the festival I spotted these guys ….they are Bohemian Waxwings.  Not the first time they have ever been seen here at the estuary but definitely the first time they’ve perched where I could get a picture of them.  My hope is they will stick around for a day when it is quieter, brighter, and drier!