The Bald Eagle is a familiar symbol of wilderness majesty. It is not bald, of course, in the sense that it's head is bare. It has been claimed that the term bald is an archaic reference to "white-headed". Other authorities believe that it refers to the faint streaking of the darker feather shafts on the bird's head. If it is not bald, neither is it a true eagle. It belongs to the family known as sea-eagles, of which it is the only regularly-occurring member in North America.

Sea-eagles have larger heads and heavier bills than the typical eagles, like the Golden Eagle. As you might expect, Bald Eagles eat a lot of fish, and they don't mind if that fish is not fresh. This most regal of symbols makes a very nice living from carrion, and from stealing the prey of other raptors like Ospreys. Bald Eagles also eat many seabirds, some of which are harried into exhaustion as they dive repeatedly to escape the eagle's persistent stoops.

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. Second and third year birds show considerable white on their undersides, but by the fourth year, the white of the head and tail are beginning to show. 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 east coast of Vancouver Island. In the fall and winter, they move to the salmon streams to feed on the spawned-out fish. The Brackendale Eagle Reserve, just north of Squamish on the BC mainland, has one of the highest concentrations of bald eagles in the world.

From early November through March, thousands of bald eagles gather along the gravel shores of the Squamish, Cheakamus and Mamquam rivers to feast on the eggs and carcasses of spawned-out salmon. In 1994, Squamish set the world record with an astounding 3,766 eagles counted in one day! The month-long Brackendale Winter Eagle Festival is held in January, drawing crowds from around the world.

At Goldstream Provincial Park, north of Victoria, the Eagle Extravaganza celebrates the big birds as they gather in the hundreds to feed on the carcasses of salmon that have spawned and died.