Where to See Bald Eagles in Alaska

The Alas­ka Zoo start­ed in 1966 with one baby ele­phant named Annabelle that was won in a con­test. Since then, it has expand­ed to include over 77 ani­mals across 25 acres of the Anchor­age hillside.

Crys­tal-clear Willi­waw Creek and its bank-side trail sys­tem in Portage Val­ley at the head of Tur­na­gain Arm offers excep­tion­al­ly good con­di­tions for watch­ing spawn­ing in action. Coho, sock­eye and chum salmon con­verge on the creek as it winds through the brushy flats begin­ning in mid-August, with some late-arriv­ing fish still present after first frost in the fall.

Here you’ll find one of the most acces­si­ble wildlife view­ing areas in Alas­ka. The marsh is a rest area for migra­to­ry birds includ­ing trum­peter swans, red­necked grebes, gold­en eyes, and pin­tails. Also watch for beavers, moose and bald eagles. You may even spot salmon spawn­ing in the deep­er water.

Vis­i­ble out­side the win­dows of the Mat-Su Con­ven­tion and Vis­i­tors Bureau, this state wildlife refuge is the result of the 1964 earth­quake. Lit­er­al­ly overnight, the land dropped by 6 to 20 feet; hay fields and pas­ture­land became salt flats and marsh­land. Once home to cows and grains, the land is now prime habi­tat for moose, birds, and fish. Some 20,000 acres are pro­tect­ed in the refuge, which is a pop­u­lar recre­ation and wildlife-viewing…  ...more

Locat­ed at Mile 1.0 of the Portage High­way, this site has a short board­walk trail along sev­er­al ponds. It is a good site for observ­ing water­fowl that nest and rear their young in the ponds and riv­er channels.

Har­bor seals and sea otters are com­mon sights in the Whit­ti­er Small Boat Har­bor. You might also see salmon enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly leap­ing from the water, a sight that cues locals to run for their fish­ing poles. King salmon run from May through ear­ly-July. From late-July through ear­ly-Sep­tem­ber, a run of sil­ver salmon brings anglers from through­out South­cen­tral Alaska.

Bald eagles can be seen from just about any high­way pull­out and trail­head along Tur­na­gain Arm, a stun­ning world-class fiord that stretch­es south­east from Anchor­age for almost 50 miles along the Seward Highway.

At the Seward Small Boat Har­bor look out at the rock jet­ties and buoys. Eagles like to sit on these spots and mon­i­tor their domain. Food is also plen­ti­ful from fish­er­man clean­ing fish, seabirds that stay in the area and fish that return to the streams nearby.

This is an easy place to watch an active eagle nest in the top of a spruce tree. There had been a nest pri­or to this one in a dead spruce but it fell in a past win­ter storm. The eagle pair quick­ly built this new nest a short dis­tance away in a live spruce. If you have time to watch, you may see the par­ents bring­ing in food for the young­ster. There is a lot of activ­i­ty at this nest and it is s great place to get good pho­tographs of…  ...more

Sounds Wild: Altri­cial­For many years an elder­ly lady fed eagles at this spot dur­ing the win­ter months: ​“The Eagle Lady of Homer Spit.” Her house was right on the beach and she received fish waste from a local fish proces­sor, which she would then give to the hun­dreds of eagles that would show up for their dai­ly feed­ing. After she passed away this prac­tice of feed­ing the eagles was stopped.More Information   ...more

Every­one wants to explore a tide­pool, don’t they? This is a must for the kids — even that lit­tle kid in those slight­ly more mature vis­i­tors. Here’s the per­fect spot. Bring a tow­el and let’s have an inter­tidal adventure.

The spit has a rep­u­ta­tion for attract­ing decent num­bers of America’s nation­al bird — drawn by myr­i­ad poten­tial food sources from fish­er­men, seafood pro­cess­ing and a vast beach with a big tidal range and crash­ing surf.

Def­i­nite­ly keep your eyes open here, there’s vol­ca­noes, bel­u­ga whales, har­bor seals, and tons of birdlife to be seen — depend­ing on the sea­son and weath­er, of course. Extra cred­it if you spot an owl!

The trail is half a mile long and takes you through a mature birch for­est that is car­pet­ed with dev­il’s club and water­mel­on berry plants. It’s an easy walk­ing, ide­al for small chil­dren, and ends at a small camp­ing area on a slight bluff that over­looks Bish­op’s Beach and Bish­op Creek.

At the Sol­dot­na dump you can some­times see sev­er­al hun­dred eagles at once. 

Sounds Wild: Eagles Life­time MatesWant to see a soar­ing eagle up close? Stop at this site near the senior cen­ter and walk out toward the bluff – not too close as the bluff is erod­ing. Eagles play in the wind along the bluff. If not fly­ing they can be seen on the mud flats at low tide– look­ing for food that has washed downstream.More Information   ...more

Stop off here dur­ing the sum­mer for an eagle’s eye view of an annu­al Alaskan fish­ing fren­zy. We real­ly love our salmon, and it shows! Or, just count the bald eagles cir­cling high overhead.

Deep Creek North is locat­ed on the north side of Deep Creek; this area has 29 camp­sites for vehi­cles up to 50 feet.

Stop here for a view of the Ninilchik Riv­er and watch for bald eagles which often soar along the riv­er. You’ll also find walk­ing paths and an inter­pre­tive infor­ma­tion sign about the area.

The annu­al Alas­ka Bald Eagle Fes­ti­val takes place in Haines dur­ing the sec­ond week of Novem­ber at the peak of the largest con­gre­ga­tion of eagles in the world. Drawn by a late run of chum and coho salmon, some 2,000 to 4,000 eagles con­verge on the Chilkat Riv­er Valley.

Each Octo­ber and Novem­ber, between 3,000 and 4,000 bald eagles descend upon this 48,000-acre pre­serve cen­tered on riv­er bot­tom­lands a few miles north of Haines to feast on late runs of salmon. Eagles can be found through­out the pre­serve, how­ev­er, with an esti­mat­ed 300 to 400 of the birds in the area through­out the year.

When you’re dri­ving Chena Hot Springs Road, keep in mind that it’s best not to rush. This jour­ney defines ​“scenic route” as a one-day road trip primed for spot­ting wildlife, explor­ing a new trail­head, and pulling over to cast a line.

Learn about the amaz­ing attrib­ut­es of the Bald Eagle and how they live. Eagles are found through­out most of South­cen­tral Alas­ka and are quite pro­lif­ic in and around Cor­do­va, espe­cial­ly the Cop­per Riv­er Delta. Bald Eagle nests can some­times be seen along the road while dri­ving to Childs Glac­i­er, 52 miles from Cor­do­va. They also con­gre­gate where spawn­ing salmon are found. The Pow­er Creek road area locat­ed just a few miles from Cor­do­va has…  ...more

This riv­er orig­i­nates from the Lak­i­na Glac­i­er and the south­ern flanks of Mt. Black­burn, spilling into the Chiti­na Riv­er sev­er­al miles down­stream. Pulling over to the side of the road just after the bridge at mile­post 44, one can explore upstream for around a half-mile before get­ting boxed out by the for­est and a nar­row­ing of the river.

Aside from rivers where salmon are spawn­ing, this is one of the best spots to watch bald eagles. They perch in trees and on rocks here, hunt­ing for washed-up salmon and oth­er food. It’s also a great place for a pic­nic, or to go beachcombing.

Before the salmon return, it can be dif­fi­cult to find bears. Instead of gath­er­ing at the salmon runs, they’re dis­persed through­out beach­es, tidal flats, and alpine mead­ows, graz­ing on fresh veg­e­ta­tion. The beach­es and grass flats on the east coast of Kru­zof Island offer prime graz­ing in May and June, and if you’re lucky, you just might see one. Even if you don’t, though, the island is still a great des­ti­na­tion, with its black-sand beach­es and…  ...more

Just out­side Ketchikan, the Alas­ka Rain­for­est Sanc­tu­ary promis­es a close-up view of old-growth for­est, salmon habi­tat, an his­toric lum­ber mill, totem carv­ing, rap­tor exhibits, and chances to see black bear and oth­er wildlife – all in under 3 hours! There’s no bet­ter intro­duc­tion to Alaska’s South­east than this show­case of ecol­o­gy, wildlife, his­to­ry and Native culture.

Moun­tain Point eagle nest is locat­ed near a side road just north of the Moun­tain Point boat ramp. As you are trav­el­ing south on the South Ton­gass Hwy, slow down as you pass the Mt. Pt. Mar­itime mark­er. Turn left onto the side road at the 35 MPH + curve sign. Pull off this road on the left into a quar­ry type area about ½ block from the high­way and look north-north­west to a large Sit­ka Spruce.Size: Medi­umView­ing: Medium   ...more

Val­ley Park School eagle nest is on the hill­side to the east. Pull into the park­ing lot and park close to the fire hydrant. Look above the right hand end of the dugout on the base­ball field until you locate a large dead snag. Size: Medi­um-LargeView­ing: Easy

Fawn Moun­tain School eagle nest is best seen from the school’s access road as you turn left off the South Ton­gass Hwy and head up the hill towards the school. Pull off the road to the left on the dri­ve­way. Look about 25 feet down from the top of the large Sit­ka Spruce tree to your southeast.

The Ketchikan Region­al Youth Deten­tion Cen­ter eagle nest is best viewed from two land-based loca­tions. From the north edge of the Pub­lic Health park­ing lot (just north of the Mor­mon church) look above the left hand peak of the KRY­DC. The alter­na­tive, and per­haps best view­ing, is from the park­ing lot of Cal­vary Bible Church­Size: Medi­umView­ing: Easy 

The Lama Head eagle nest can be viewed from the water. Look for a round gray boul­der on the beach near the high tide line. Now let your eyes sweep about 35 feet to the right along the beach and then strait up to the tree­tops. If you look close­ly you’ll see the shape of a Lama in the trees. Look for the Lama’s long skin­ny neck, point­ed nose to the left, peaked ears and a pack­sad­dle. What you per­ceive to be a pack­sad­dle IS the eagle’s nest.…  ...more

Mec­ca Eagles Nest is a chal­lenge to find from land or water. It is in a low-lying tree­top above a water­front brown home with brown roof. By land, turn sea­ward off the north Ton­gass Hwy, one dri­ve­way north of the Mec­ca at 11.3 mile NT. The nest can best be found dur­ing incu­ba­tion and active feed­ing times when the white head of the adult eagle will show you this nest. Size: Smal­l­View­ing: Challenging  ...more

The nest­ing pair have built a new nest just north of McClennan’s house on the point and near the water’s edge. It is very near the top of the tallest tree among the short imma­ture spruce that grow there. Size: Small (but it makes the EALGES look bii­i­i­ig­ger!) View­ing: EasyDon’t spend so much time on the eagles that you miss the whales .…… BEHIND YOU!

The McClen­nan eagle nest is best viewed from the water north of Totem Bight State Park from a point in front of the Mick­el home (gray with white trim). The nest is on the right hand side of a huge old-growth tree where the longest branch is attached, well below the lopped off top. This tree ris­es above the McClen­nan home. Size: Medi­um-LargeView­ing: Medium-Easy

Dan­ger Island is locat­ed west of Refuge Cove & north of Chan­nel Island in the Ton­gass Nar­rows just north of Ward Cove. The Dan­ger Island eagle nest is locat­ed under the crown of an umbrel­la-shaped tree at the point of where the trunk splits. It is best viewed from north­west of the island. Size: LargeView­ing: Easy

Long Island, owned by Tim & Kay Long, is locat­ed south of Refuge Cove State Park and west of Refuge Cove Mari­na, about 8 ½ miles north of Ketchikan. The Long Island eagle nest is best viewed from the south­west side of the island by look­ing ¹⁄₃ the way down from the top of the largest tree on side of the island that you’re fac­ing. Size: Medi­umView­ing: Moderate

Nordic Tug (a.k.a Long­shore­man Dock) Nest is only viewed from the water. Look SE towards the shore to the tree­tops grow­ing about 100 yards (300ft) up the hill from the N. Ton­gass Hwy. Look for a clus­ter of dead Cedar spires. The nest sits among them like a mush­room on a shish-kabob! Size: Medi­um-SmalView­ing: Mod­er­ate­ly Difficult 

Ward Cove Eagles Nest is in the west­ern bight of Ward Cove, which is north of Ketchikan. It is locat­ed above the cen­ter of the west­ern bight shore­line and can be best viewed from near the point. Look for a tall dead tree top about half the way up the steep hill side from the vicin­i­ty of this loca­tion. The nest is just below the dead sec­tion and on the left. Size: Medi­um-Large View­ing: Moderate  ...more

The Daw­son Point eagle nest is best viewed from the water just north of East Island near the NW entrance of Ward Cove. Locate a sin­gle thin snag on the right hand end of the Daw­son Point sky­line. Count 4 trees to the left. This is a large pyra­mid shaped dark green Sit­ka spruce with a flat notch near the top right side. Adults & chicks can be seen in sea­son. Size: Medi­umView­ing: Moderate

Sax­man Nest can be seen sea­ward & slight­ly south of the City Hall park­ing lot just off the South Ton­gass Hwy. Look for this nest in a decid­u­ous tree, which is rare for the area. Eagle’s usu­al­ly don’t nest in decid­u­ous trees! Size: Medi­um-LargeView­ing: Easy

The Shore­line Nest is best viewed from land by turn­ing off North Ton­gass Hwy at the north entrance to Shore­line Dri­ve. When you are around address 5306, look sea­ward to the nest, which sits about ¹⁄₃ of the way down from the top of a tree. Size: Medi­um-Smal­l­View­ing: Easy

East Clump is an island at high tide direct­ly across Ton­gass Nar­rows from the south end of Bar Har­bor near Madi­son Lum­ber. The nest tree is on the south edge of East Clump and best viewed from the water.Size: Medi­umView­ing: Moderate

Ready Mix Eagle Nest is equal­ly seen from both the water and land. By land, turn west off of N. Ton­gass just north of Ketchikan Ready Mix & Quar­ry. Park or stand between the two pic­nic bench­es and look back over the cliff above the high­way. The nest is in a huge tree­top near the crown of a sky­line promi­nent tree. You can see the nest by boat from a vari­ety of angles.Size: HugeView­ing: Easy  ...more

At the Eagle Cen­ter, you can get up close to 10 res­cued birds, includ­ing a gold­en eagle, great-horned owls and even a turkey vul­ture. One pair of bald eagles has mat­ed for life and occa­sion­al­ly has babies to show off. Phone: 800−252−5158, 907−228−5530. Hours May-Sep: 8am‑4:30pm (dai­ly) Win­ter: By appoint­ment Admis­sion $10/​adult, $5 kids ages 2 – 11.  ...more

Clover Pass Mark­er eagle nest is locat­ed north of the Clover Pass Resort on the tiny island with the nav­i­ga­tion­al mark­er. Look for the nest in a tree!Size: Medi­umView­ing: Easy! The best view­ing angle is deter­mined by the angle of the sun and because it is a small island loca­tion you can maneu­ver your boat for the best pos­si­ble viewing. 

Pup Island eagle nest is locat­ed on the north side of Pup Island in the Clover Pass area, north of Ketchikan. You can only see the nest from the water. Size: Medi­um-Smal­l­View­ing: Chal­leng­ing, but the fish­ing is great in this area so you may see­ing some eagle action on the water!

South Ton­gass Fire Depart­ment eagle nest can be seen from the park­ing lot by their old fire sta­tion off of South Ton­gass High­way, just south of the Mt. Pt. Boat launch. Check the largest Sit­ka Spruce in the stand of tim­ber above the elec­tri­cal sub­sta­tion and you’ll see the nest about 30 feet from the top. Size: Medi­umView­ing: Moderate 

Saguaro Cac­tus eagle nest can best be seen while trav­el­ing south along the north Grav­ina shore in the Ton­gass Nar­rows. Look for a large dead snag with a saguaro cac­tus arm stick­ing out on the right hand side. The eagle’s nest is on the south-south­east side of this dead snag and is best seen from fair­ly close to shore. It is adorned with grass and appears to cling to the back­side of the tree, seem­ing­ly with no vis­i­ble means of support.

The Val­lenar Rocks Wildlife View­ing Area eagle nest is locat­ed in the north­ern­most of the Val­lenar Islands. When approach­ing from the north you can find this nest just under the crown of the right-hand most clump of trees. It is small, but active and fair­ly easy to view. Size: Smal­l­View­ing: EasyS­tay far enough away from the Har­bor Seals so that they are NOT scared off the rocks. 

Guard Island Big Island Nest is locat­ed in the tallest clump of trees, about 180 feet south of the light­house. It can be seen from both sides of the island. From the GPS giv­en, look back at the light­house, then to the left to the tallest clump of trees. This nest is near­ly at the top of this clus­ter of trees. It is active every oth­er year, alter­nat­ing with Lit­tle #2 for the past sev­er­al years. Look for Har­bor seals on the rocks or in the Bull…  ...more

Guard Lit­tle eagle nest #2 is locat­ed in the far­thest right tree clus­ter on the small­er of the two Guard Islands as you approach from Pt. Hig­gins. It is small, but a bit eas­i­er to see than #1. If you posi­tion your­self right in front of the light­house, look back to the south at the tree clus­ter on the north­ern­most point of the lit­tle island and look about 8 feet from the top. The white head of the adult is seen dur­ing incu­ba­tion & feeding.…  ...more

Guard Lit­tle eagle nest #1 is locat­ed in the left hand most tree clus­ter on the small­er of the two Guard Islands as you approach the light­house from Pt. Hig­gins. It is small, dif­fi­cult to see, but does have his­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance, as it was the first nest built on Guard Island since the trees had all been cut down over 100 years ago. Two fledg­lings were suc­cess­ful­ly raised here in the adults’ 2^nd year of try­ing. The first year, the eggs…  ...more

If you want to see salmon, eagles and black bear in their nat­ur­al habi­tat, the view along Gun­nuk Creek can­not be sur­passed. Sil­ver Spike Bridge over the creek is a good view­ing point, or you can make your way to the near­by bear view­ing plat­form at the old Gun­nuk Creek Hatch­ery. Some call Gun­nuk Creek ​“eagle high­way” for the large num­ber of eagles here when the fish are running.  ...more

The wide beach flats in front of Kake where Gun­nuk Creek and Lit­tle Gun­nuk Creek emp­ty out offer a wide expanse to explore, espe­cial­ly for kids. Watch for eagles, take in the view of Kuiu Island across Keku Strait, or learn how to dig for clams.

The rocky out­crop across the Solomon Riv­er usu­al­ly hosts an active gold­en eagle nest. Look for a huge tow­er of sticks and splash­es of white­wash and orange lichen in the vicin­i­ty of the nest and sur­round­ing perch­ing sites. Built by eagles and added onto in suc­ces­sive years, the nest i s dis­tinc­tive for its large size, con­struc­tion, and shape. When not occu­pied by eagles, the large nest may be used by gyrfalcons.

This high point in the road gives you an excel­lent view across the val­ley. Three ditch lines from ear­li­er min­ing activ­i­ties are appar­ent on the far side of the val­ley, espe­cial­ly where they cross the exposed rock face of Cape Horn. The ditch­es orig­i­nate near Hud­son Creek about 12 miles upstream. Today these deep, wide gash­es on the hill­side offer cov­er and eas­i­er move­ment for wildlife — espe­cial­ly moose and griz­zly bears.

The Blue­stone Riv­er is unlike oth­er riv­er cross­ings along the Teller Road because it flows north­ward to Imu­ruk Basin rather than south to Nor­ton Sound. The riv­er is deeply incised as it cuts through steep moun­tains, cre­at­ing steep, rocky slopes and cliffs. Rough-legged hawk, gold­en eagle, gyr­fal­con, and com­mon raven may nest on near­by rock cliffs

As you approach the Tisuk Riv­er, scan down­stream and across the riv­er for a large nest of sticks on an orange lichen-cov­ered rock out­crop. Built by gold­en eagles, it may be used by gyr­fal­con when not occu­pied by eagles.

The mild stroll around Straw­ber­ry Hill offers great views, wildlife and some his­toric fla­vor. Old mil­i­tary roads cov­er the area, pro­vid­ing easy walk­ing. Adven­tur­ers can bush­whack or scram­ble short dis­tances for bet­ter views of the sur­round­ing area or get up close to WWII-era trench­es and the remains of old bunkers.

If your trav­el group includes a WWII enthu­si­ast, a wildlife devo­tee, a bird­er, and a kid who enjoys rolling around on the tun­dra, Bunker Hill is the per­fect spot. Plus, it has the best pho­to ops, with a 360-degree view of the entire area: Cap­tains Bay, Amak­nak Island, Unalas­ka Bay and Ili­uliuk Harbor.

A dri­ve or walk up Mt. Bal­ly­hoo is inter­est­ing for both bird­ers and those inter­est­ed in World War II his­to­ry. It’s such as good view that you might even catch sight of whales in the dis­tance. The view from the 1,634-foot moun­tain gives you an idea of how birds might see the area (that is, if you can imag­ine the view with a lot more col­or and super-sharp clarity)

Unalaska’s Front Beach, on the shores of Ili­uliuk Bay, is both invit­ing and pic­turesque. Look­ing toward the bay, watch for boats com­ing into har­bor, eagles fight­ing over salmon, or mist engulf­ing the sur­round­ing hills and moun­tain tops. Back toward Unalas­ka, you’ll find more emer­ald green moun­tain views and his­toric sites.

Look for salmon and bald eagles here.

A spec­tac­u­lar set­ting for anglers, beach­combers, hik­ers, and explor­ers. There is devel­oped camp­ing for both tent and RV campers, a boat launch, two mod­ern pit toi­lets, and numer­ous pic­nic sites. The beach makes for excel­lent walk­ing, beach­comb­ing, wildlife view­ing and birding.