Fish Fight to the Finish Video on ABC Television

Delighted to report that my Slow-Motion video “Fish Fight to the Fish” has been acquired by ABC Television for use in their “Right This Minute” segment. Kinda funny to watch where they have placed it and the style of the show. Sorry for the commercial preceding the video.

Fish Fight to the Finish Video

 

 

Right This Minute TV Show Segment

 

A Bald Eagle would rather steal a fish from another eagle than catch one for itself. This seems to be the standard behavior on the Chilkat River in Haines, Alaska. The chum salmon do one of the last spawning runs on the Chilkat River in November each year. Bald eagles by the thousands converge on the sand bars and river banks of the Chilkat River for their annual feast. There is much competition for the spawning salmon, and the eagles will fight and steal from each other to get their share. Wildlife photographers from the US and foreign countries also converge at Haines to photograph this spectacular event.

Photographing bald eagles on the Chilkat river is very challenging photography. They fly, attack, steal at varying distances from the photographer across the braided river gravel bars, often in poor light conditions. Strong daylight is limited to about 10am to 2pm at that time of the year in Alaska. Weather is always a factor. Every year that I have been to Haines (3 times over 4 years) to photograph this event, it has snowed. Snow can be good. It provides a very different setting, but also very dim light. A photographer needs good light to capture the action of these amazing raptors.

The eagles are flying about almost constantly:  up and down the river, across the river to the trees along the river banks where they often consume their prey, and frequently overhead. I was standing on the shore of the river handholding my camera, scanning for some action, when squawking and screeching could be heard overhead. I looked up and saw two eagles fighting with one another. I did not have time to think. My arms reacted. I had about 2 seconds to focus on the eagles, start my slow-motion video and follow them while they crashed through the trees and down into the snow behind a log only 50 feet away.  I held my breath, watched and waited. It took the eagles about 5 minutes to recover from their crash, then the victor emerged from behind the log, flying almost straight at me with the fish in its talons. I reacted within seconds and was able to photograph it as it flew past me just yards away. After my heart restarted, the playback of the video confirmed that I had a winner.

~ by richardseeley on March 23, 2019.