Brackendale Portrait
copyright 2007 Keith Loh

One of the most easily accessible and mind-blowing photo opportunities close to Vancouver is the Brackendale eagle dyke in Squamish. Within an hour and a half drive from downtown Vancouver you can be standing beside a flowing river twenty metres away from a dozen or more bald eagles. Starting from the middle of November to early spring hundreds of eagles will be flying in to snack on salmon returning to spawn and to overwinter. While most of us in North America are familiar with the image of the lone noble eagle soaring by itself high in the sky, here you can get a new perspective on the social, squabbling, vocal interactions of these huge birds as they roost in numbers.

Yesterday, I took a friend (the friend who sold me my first DSLR -- the 10D -- in fact) and our mates to see how many early eagles had arrived. I was pleased to see around ten coming and going and many just perching on the beach or in the trees -- unmindful of the gallery of humans pointing all sorts of cameras and telescopes in their direction. For anyone who hasn't witnessed it, it is mind blowing. I recall being in downtown Vancouver in the harbour seeing tourists barely able to resist ooing and awing at two juvenile eagles soaring up from Stanley Park snapping away with their kit lenses or point and shoots. Imagine if they had known to come to Brackendale. They might have been petrified at the opportunity.

Now with upgraded telephoto gear

I had been there for the first time last year with my Canon EF 70-300mm IS USM mounted on a Tamron 2X teleconverter. I jumped at the opportunity to return this year with my lens and converter considerably upgraded to the Canon EF 100-400mm IS USM L. This year I also brought a tripod, remote shutter release and hopefully with much better skills after shooting nature seriously since last spring.

Conditions

Conditions last year were much poorer, pouring rain in fact and half way to Squamish this year I suddenly felt the pang of fear because I had forgotten my rain protection, the Kata E-702 that had served me very well that last time. In fact the only useful shot I got then was of a wolf dog that exorted part of my lunch away from me. Fortunately, when we arrived, it was only overcast and later on brightened up with periodic appearances of sun. Of course, overcast is perfect for photography; we only appreciated the sun because it was ass-numbingly cold by the river. (I appreciate the patience of our mates as they sat bums down on rock while we males snapped away like anti-aircraft gunners at every passing flying bird). In any case, you are well-advised to look at day-to-day weather conditions and also be aware that local conditions in Squamish will vary from Vancouver.

Bald Eagle Full Wing Spread
copyright 2007 Keith Loh

The eagles, other birds and wildlife

The eagles at Brackendale will present you with every opportunity for static and dynamic nature shots. Most of the time they are roosting in trees or prominent outcropping, peering out at the river for any appearance of easy dinner. It is more likely that they will be hopping down into the side of the rocky beach to drag in a half-dead fish or to bully one of their cousins or seagulls off of their own food. Although that punctures their noble mystique a bit it does provide photographers with grand opportunities to see them circling, fighting, screeching or displaying in some aggressive manner. You will see brown juveniles and the classic white headed adults. If you ever get bored of the eagles (and that time may come) you can also catch herons, golden-eye ducks, cormorants, ubiquitous seagulls and crows and even seals who may be following the fish up river.

Indeed, at times wildlife were nearly outnumbered by the number of photographers who had come out for this 'shooting gallery'. I counted half a dozen serious shooters including some with long expensive primes. There was also steady traffic of locals and tourists and a group of non-profit 'eagle counters' who supplied passerby with telescopes and information. I clambered down to the river to get away from the traffic and also to hopefully get some shots from the ground level.

Pistol grip no good for birding

I soon confirmed that my tripod head sadly is not up to the quick panning needed when the action is up close. While I like the Manfrotto / Bogen 3265 pistol grip for its ease of use in setting up and I got some decent shots panning from a distance away; as an action head so close it is not useful. I'll be exploring what ball head to add later now that I have ruled out the pistol grip for birding use. I did take many static shots of eagles roosting with the tripod and remote release for stability but once I took enough of these my 100-400 went off the head and I shot hand-held for the next two hours.

Bald Eagle Flying
copyright 2007 Keith Loh

Shooting hand-held with the 100-400L vs "the Bigma"

Shooting hand-held with a teleconverter that disables your autofocus is a skill I am rapidly learning. Even without the teleconverter the 100-400 pushes the 30D's autofocus to the limit. I have to say this is mostly the limitation of the camera. I traded for my friend's 1d MkII for a few shots and found the autofocus very quick and accurate and his viewfinder outstanding not to mention its obscenely fast continuous shooting speed. We later traded lenses -- my 100-400 for his Sigma 50-500 ("the Bigma") and I confirmed my decision to go with the Canon lens over the Sigma. The Canon has greater clarity and is a pleasure to use hand-held with its push-pull zoom control over the Sigma's ring zoom and it is noticeably lighter. With static shots the Sigma had the better reach for sure but you can only shoot so many static portraits of eagles before you are waiting for them to take off. There was really no contest when the teleconverters were employed. My friend had the Bigma on the same Tamron 2X that I used last year and the results had considerable chromatic abberation (CA) and fuzziness. I don't know if the results would be better with the Sigma teleconverter or another one. On his side, however, the Sigma still autofocused mounted on the 1d MKII.

Group trip to Brackendale on the 9th

The Vancouver Meetup and Flickr group is arranging a group outing to Brackendale for December the 9th. I went last year I highly recommend it as Jim the organizer will be there with loads of useful information as well as bringing along a host of telescopes and mounts for those of you without long telephotos.

More details here.

Getting there

If you choose to go to Brackendale by yourself you can either print out this Google map or follow the directions below:

From downtown Vancouver:
1. Take the Lions Gate Bridge and follow Highway 99
2. Follow 99 through North and West Vancouver. 99 will break off to the ferries so take Exit 2 to continue toward Squamish and Whistler (the "Sea to Sky" highway).

Take your time on the Sea to Sky to Squamish as it is scenic, has many twists and turns and there is road construction widening it in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. Please take care driving on the Sea to Sky as every year there are major accidents. One of my neighbours was killed there last year in a motorcycle accident.

3. Squamish is laid out over many miles so don't get too excited when you see the sign. You will have about twenty minutes of driving before you see any cluster of buildings. Once you do, keep your eyes out for the Garibaldi cross street. Take a left.

4. Garibaldi Way is a short street that leads you right to the dyke. Find a place to park.

Note: many locals will tell you there are better places to watch the eagles that is not quite so heavily attended. I'll be looking for them!

On the way back to Vancouver, don't forget to keep an eye out for landscape opportunities as Howe Sound (beside the Sea to Sky) is very beautiful as the sun goes down.