Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve

A lone eagle is silhouetted against snow-covered mountains at Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve.

The Alaska Chilkat Bald Eagle Preserve, a unique habitat of river bottom land at the confluence of the Chilkat, Kleheni and Tsirku rivers, protects the world's largest concentration of bald eagles.

People from all over the world come to see the birds, whose numbers are sometimes stunning. The highest recorded count, made Nov. 14, 2000, found 3,444 birds on a three-mile stretch of river. This is the highest count of bald eagles since the mid-1980s.

The eagles are drawn by the two late run of chum salmon that come to this region to spawn and then die. The salmon are attracted by waters that remain ice-free during the freezing months, a result of a natural phenomenon called an alluvial fan reservoir.

Eagles use virtually every portion of the 48,000-acre preserve at some point during the year, but the best place to watch is on the river flats of the Chilkat River between miles 18 and 24 on the Haines Highway.

Though the area is accessible year-round, the eagles are not always visible. The best time to visit is late October to early December.

Visitors are asked to view the birds from designated areas and not to set up camera tripods on the winding, narrow road. It is especially important to stay off the mud flats, which are the eagles' feeding grounds.