I found these two birds far apart, but close together in my image library. The eagle photo was taken in southeast Alaska … home to thousands of bald eagles (and my home for a year or so back in the 1970’s). The mountain blue bird photo was taken in Yellowstone. I was more thrilled to see it than I was the eagle, since we don’t have them often where I live … and we have eagles flying over the house on a pretty regular basis.
On the far side of the valley is the current river bed. The little bit of water in the image is just a few wandering streams that likely show a future river channel. This is the Chilkat River outside of Haines, Alaska.
Fog and mist blowing through the trees and up valleys makes a dramatic scene. Always a favorite of mine.
This mountain is outside of Haines, Alaska … I know it by Pyramid Mountain … but I’m not sure that is the official name. You can tell why it would have that name locally, regardless of what the maps say. I lived up in Haines one winter in the mid-70’s. I’ve heard that their annual snowfall has taken a big hit since then. The river is the Chilkat and at this point it is starting to be impacted by tidal flow. This was taken September 1st, so shows the low point of snow pack.
I may have emphasized the clouds some, but they were boring before. Just some increase in contrast.
This shows a part of Haines … while a small town, it is larger than shown here. This is salt water and the mountains in the background are around 7000′ (2133m) in elevation. My aunt and uncle lived here for much of their adult lives and I wintered over there in the mid-70’s. The other side of the close landform is the Chilkat River. A view upstream is below.
