Bird lovers flock to 25th annual Eagle Watch

Plenty of eagles could be seen in a field in Sheffield Mills in Kings County, N.S. Sunday, despite chilly temperatures and falling snow.

Organizers of the 25th annual Eagle Watch have been luring the birds of prey to the area since mid-January. The event draws bird watchers from across Canada every year.

"It's much better than last year," observed Barry Burgess, a bird enthusiast from Queenland, N.S. "It's a colder winter so there's more hungry birds around. They're searching for food and the river is frozen ... everything is frozen over, there's lots of birds here."

'You have to be patient'

Malcolm Lake, one of the organizers, said some of the eagles live in the area and others are migrating through Cape Breton.

"To see the eagles you have to be patient," Lake said. "And you have to have great perseverance because they're not under contract. They just come down when they want to."

Yves Guillot, a retired psychologist and now avian photographer,traveled from Sherbrooke, Que. to see the eagles.

"It's hard to shoot the eagles unless you have roadkillor something. But here it's much easier and you can also have different scenes you don't see elsewhere, like fights."

The eagles are expected to fly away by mid-March.

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