Greetings from Haines, Alaska. What a year it has been for Haines, for Rainbow Glacier Adventures, and for the Ordonez family. Right now Haines is experiencing serious flooding, landslides and displacement. The situation is serious but our family feels safe at our current location. Thankfully we got a break from the rain yesterday, but it started back up last night. Rain is expected to continue for the next week. The ground is saturated, more slides could come and we are on high alert.
Here’s an update of the last few months:
The virus pretty much shut down tourism in Haines and Rainbow Glacier Adventures never opened its doors this past summer. Our rafts, kayaks and vehicles did not come out of storage. Our Swan View rental cabins out at Mosquito Lake remained vacant.
We applied for government aid and fortunately were able to get some assistance. We put our Mosquito Lake house and cabins up for sale and were surprised to find a buyer right away.
So we had to pack up and move. We are renting a nice place on Paradise Cove, a few miles south of Haines. The house sits on a beach with an amazing view of the Rainbow Glacier. This is the site of an old salmon cannery, and all that remains are the pilings from the dock On still, cloudy days, the view of the pilings reflecting on the water gives a melancholy feel to this spot. The photo I have included with this post is from one of those days.
On sunny days, we look due north up the Chilkat Inlet and River towards Canada. Sunny days here normally coincide with winds from the North draining down from the Yukon. When these bitter North winds funnel down the valley, they hit our house straight on with speeds upwards to forty knots. The entire house shakes. We got hit with a blizzard the first week after we moved in and almost the entire month of November was below freezing with weeks of strong winds. I had some fun teaching our youngest daughter, Sapphire, how to ski in the driveway.
In addition to strange weather, it’s been a strange year for wildlife in Haines. The fish runs were weak, and brown bears have been roaming all over the Valley looking for food. Their search for food has led them into town. Bears have learned to break into cars, storage units, sheds and cabins. Over twenty bears have been shot in Haines in “defense of life and property.”
In a typical November I guide eagle photographers in the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve. This year is far from typical. Few fish in the river means low eagle numbers. When I go to my special spot where I reliably count over one hundred eagles this time of year, I see only a handful. The stretch of river which normally roils with salmon while eagles battle over the spawning fish is eerily silent.
A friend asked me how the eagles “know” not to come to the Eagle Preserve when there are no fish. I scratched my head and came up with this answer:
The eagles that join the local eagles to gather here in November are on their way south from nearby parts of Alaska, the Yukon and British Columbia. As salmon spawning season ends in their home territories, these eagles pass over this area in anticipation of a reliable feast.
Two characteristics of bald eagles are important when considering this question- their excellent eyesight and their contrasting black and white coloration. The bald eagle has the most highly developed eye in the animal kingdom. Their eyesight is eight times better than human eyesight. The contrasting color combination makes eagles visible from a great distance and helps them to stand out against the snow. An eagle in the air can spot another eagle on the ground from many miles away.
Adult eagles are territorial in the summer when they nest. They only congregate in the fall and winter if there is an abundant food source. If an eagle flying overhead sees a few other eagles clustered in an area on the ground, they “know” there is something to eat down there. They descend and land to join in the feast. Other eagles flying over would see that there are several eagles on the ground and also would land and join in. If food is plentiful, they will stay and feed while others arrive.
The more eagles that land the easier it is for other eagles flying over to see that something is going on below. This continues and the numbers continue to grow. In a year with healthy salmon runs, over three thousand bald eagles feed along the Chilkat River in November. If there is a poor fish run, only the “local” eagles are on the ground. Eagles passing over don’t see any groupings of eagles that would give them a reason to land. They continue south in search of food.
It is hard to say what the fish runs will be like next year and in the future year. But I am hopeful that this year is an anomaly. I hope and pray that the fish runs will be strong and eagles will return to the Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve by the thousands.
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers during this challenging time for our community. There are various places where you can offer assistance. If you would like to help, one site where you can make a donation is https://www.gofundme.com/f/haines-alaska-disaster-relief
Let’s stay in touch.
Joe