Seeing The Signs

After seeing the news story from the Oregon Department of Forestry regarding sightings of the Coho coming in from the Ocean and into the coastal streams I had said that I wanted to go see if they had made it to my Upper Nehalem area. My sightseeing was foiled by the copious rainfall and rising water levels in the River.

But just because I didn’t get to see them coming upstream doesn’t mean that I can’t tell if they are indeed there or not. The evidence the last two days with the river beginning to ebb a bit are the Bald Eagles that are making their presence known by perching sentry duty in the trees along the river.  They are on cleanup duty serving as the lookout for the salmon that have already spawned and died.

As we traveled over the bridge, one of the large eagles lifted off from the river edge to move to a safer spot in a tall fir tree. When we looked down to the river we could see that the eagle had found a carcass bobbing about in an eddy at the edge of the river. Missing my opportunity to see this set of fish fighting their way upstream is not a possibility but I will keep an eye on the river in case the level drops enough in the next couple of weeks to see the migration.

We expect we will see both of the semi-resident Bald Eagles and the just as large mottled Eagle that call the river their home from our spawning areas to the other side of Vernonia. It is many miles of river that these three patrol and watching their actions gives me proof of river health.