After spending a couple of days around Lake Kussharo, we worked our way east to Rausu, a port city on the Notsuke Peninsula.  We had scheduled two early morning boat trips (5am departure) to photograph Stellar sea eagles and White-tailed eagles.  It was still dark when we boarded our boat.  The trip the day before had been cancelled because there was no sea ice and no sea eagles according to some other photographers from Norway that were staying at our hotel.

As we headed out, it was clear we’d have plenty of sea ice on this day.  We were on a small boat similar to the one in this image.

There was probably 20-25 photographers aboard on two decks.  I spent a little time on both decks.  It was easier getting flying birds on the top deck but on the lower deck you were more at eye level for those sitting on ice or feeding.

White tailed eagle                                              Stellar sea eagle

Here are some images of the two different eagles taking off, landing and grabbing the flatfish that are thrown from the boat to both feed the eagles and attract them.  To really see these regal birds it’s best to click on the images to take them to full screen.

After getting back to the dock about 8am, we decided we had seen and photographed what we wanted and would cancel our second morning trip.  Instead, we would drive the long way around to the north coast of the peninsula to Utoro.  So, we went back to our hotel for breakfast.  Later, we went exploring. along the south coast until we hit the road closed barrier.  Specifically, we were looking for Arctic red fox and we had one run across the road ahead of us and then double back to a snow bank on our left.  He stopped on the side and checked us out.

In my next blog, we’ll look at some landscape images we made as we moved north and west to Asahikawa.  It would be a full days drive.

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