On the Reef (Pecking Order); Auke Bay, July 2017
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Twice a day, the reef, my reef, reappears 500 yards from the cabin. Salmon have been slow to return to the nearby stream or the last run is already long gone, so there have been fewer eagles and gulls than usual. But there has been some drama. There is an avian pecking order.
Crow attacks a great blue heron.
Eagles are always harassed by smaller, more agile, birds trying to grab a beakful. This eagle inherited a large salmon carcass left by successful fishers, and then had to protect the bounty from the usual interlopers.
Crows lecture the eagle.
A gull finally attacks. But now a bigger eagle moves in and muscles the original eagle out.
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.