FVBEF #14 Bears, Eagles, Salmon…Slough
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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At the right time of year you should be able to see numerous Bald
Eagles in the trees across the slough as well as on sandbars
snacking away, you can park well off the road very close to GZ.
Fraser Valley Bald Eagle Festival
The Annual Bald Eagle Festival celebrates the eagle and salmon
relationship, which takes place at several viewing sites throughout
the Fraser Valley between Mission and Harrison. This is a series of
caches that were placed in areas meant to bring you to some of
these sites. Each will not only provide some interesting
educational activities, but also some spectacular viewing
opportunities. These caches are available year round and are meant
to show case this natural area, which we call home. Bring your
hiking footwear, camera, extra batteries, spotting scopes and
binoculars, there is something to see and enjoy in all
seasons.
The Pacific Salmon Spawn; The Return of the Salmon and the Bald
Eagle
British Columbia is home to five species of salmon. The Chinook
Salmon (King or Spring), is the largest of the five species, with
some fish reaching a weight of 50 kilograms. The declining Coho
Salmon (Silver Salmon) is more associated with smaller streams.
Sockeye, spend part of their lives in freshwater lakes, and have
become famous for their return to the area. Pink Salmon have a
two-year life cycle that is so consistent that "even-year" and
"odd-year" runs are recognized. Chum Salmon, is widely distributed,
and easily seen at some spawning streams. Also now included in this
genus are the Steelhead Trout, and the Coastal Cutthroat Trout.
Both are sea-run fish, but are not as numerous as their cousins.
Their life cycles tell a tale that has always captivated people,
and we are witness to parts of the cycle in the rivers and streams
of the Harrison and Fraser River area. Although each of the five
species has a slightly different life cycle, the basic story is
much the same. The young salmon spend the first part of their lives
in the streams where they hatched, moving to salt water some months
later. They then spend a period of several years growing to
adulthood in the food-rich waters of the Pacific Ocean. When their
time comes, they are called back to the streams where they were
born. Their voyage home is nothing less than epic, across thousands
of kilometres of ocean. Guided largely by smell, they return to
their natal streams, some along the coast, and some far inland
along major river systems. Their bodies now brightly coloured and
distorted as they prepare for spawning, they battle their way past
riffles and chutes, until they arrive at a familiar stretch of
riverbed. Here, the males battle for the right to fertilize the
females, and the females batter their bodies as they dig redds in
the gravel in preparation for egg laying. When they are spent,
their carcasses lie rotting along the riverbanks, providing food
for scavenging birds and mammals, and cycling nutrients back into
the ecosystem. In time, the eggs hatch and a new generation of tiny
salmon begin the cycle again. The salmon spawning runs also attract
other wildlife. Bears gather at more remote rivers to fatten up for
their winter sleep. Hundreds of Bald Eagles are drawn to streams,
shallow riverbeds and estuaries. Gulls gather by the thousands,
too, gorging on the dead fish.
The Bald Eagle
The Bald Eagle is a familiar symbol of wilderness majesty. It is
not bald in the sense that it's head is bare, it has been claimed
that the term bald is a reference to "white-headed". As you might
expect, Bald Eagles eat a lot of fish, and they don't mind if that
fish is not fresh. In fact they prefer the easier lifestyle of
feasting on the rotting dead salmon carcasses that have fulfilled
their life cycle. While the hunting methods of bald eagles are a
little less than glamorous, these birds are exemplary parents to
their young. They will mate for life, and always return to the same
nesting site year after year. These nests can become huge
accumulations of branches, dirt, and the remains of prey. Most
nests produce two young, which are full-grown when they leave the
nest. Bald Eagles require five or six years to acquire their full
adult plumage. Juvenile birds are dark brown, and are often assumed
to be Golden Eagles. As in most birds of prey, females are larger
than males, and may reach a weight of over five kilograms, carried
by a wingspan of two meters or more.
Bald Eagles may be seen at any time of the year, but they often
gather in large numbers when food is plentiful. In the spring, when
the herring spawn, the eagles join thousands of seabirds, and
marine mammals, off the coast of Vancouver Island. In the fall and
winter, they move to the salmon streams to feed on the spawned-out
fish. The Chehalis Delta Estuary off of the Harrison River as well
as many of the streams, creeks and tributaries has some of the
highest concentrations of bald eagles in the area. From early
November through to February, thousands of bald eagles gather along
the shores of the creeks and rivers to feast on the eggs and
carcasses of spawned-out salmon.
The Bald Eagle Festival every November is the start of the viewing
season but the feasting may go on in some years, as late as
February. The Christmas – New Years week usually hosts the
peak numbers.
Please visit www.fraservalleybaldeaglefestival.ca for more
information.
The Cache
These caches are placed with permission from all the supporting
festival participants and locations are available year round. Most
of the caches are fairly easy to find and are not meant to be
difficult. Their intent is rather to educate and take everyone to
great viewing locations in the Festival Area. We hope you will
enjoy the area and the sites as much as we did. Our intent is to
invite Geo-cachers out for a great walk in the outdoors and to
enjoy and delight in the scenery to the cache location. ??The cache
is in a fairly well hidden location and this should keep it out of
the elements. Please re-hide as you found it to conceal it's
location from non cachers. We ask that you do not place food items,
candles or anything else that smells in the cache as this could
have the tendency to attract unwanted animals to the location. In
fairness to all cachers that visit this site, please trade even or
trade up.
As we head east from Mission this is normally the first place where
we start to see significant quantities of eagles.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Abg ba gur tebhaq