Denise Kitagawa – Vermilion Lakes

I know there’s a recent viral video of a breast-stroking eagle in BC, but we saw this eagle down in the water hunting ring-necked ducklings in August 2022 (on our wedding anniversary) while kayaking at Vermilion Lakes in Banff National Park. We saw it swoop down to the water, but it never came back up. So we paddled slowly along the shoreline and then spotted it down in the water! It stayed there for about 5 minutes, then took off (with great effort) and landed atop a dead tree about 75 meters away. We watched for about 15 minutes while it hung its wings out to dry, and then paddled away, so we don’t know how long it took before the eagle could fly again. A once in lifetime viewing experience…a lovely anniversary gift from Mother Nature.