- Well, right now we're on location
in Haines, Alaska, filming episodes of Breaking Trail.
I'm gearing up with the waterproof cameras
'cause we're heading out on this raft
to head downriver and look for bald eagles.
This is gonna be one awesome adventure.
Right up here in this tree, just staring down at us.
Got it.
That was awesome, nice job.
All right, our first epic eagle shot of the day.
Yes!
(adventure jungle music)
(puttering plane motor)
(crinkling, pounding drum beat)
All right, it's windy and it's cold.
A thing you don't want to do in this situation is
ever fall into the water.
As you can see, I've got my life preserver on,
hopefully I stay on the raft most of the time.
But you guys know me, if I see something exciting
I gotta get out of the raft in a hurry, ker-splash,
Coyote is in the drink.
- [Raft Guide] Come on in. - Good?
- [Raft Guide] Sit and spin.
- Sit and spin, okay.
You'll see as we get up here, near all these dead trees
and you have all this debris, the driftwood that's washed up
and all these sediment deposits.
A perfect spot for these birds to hang out
and look for food.
Time to find those eagles.
I did watch The River Wild before we came out
on this trip. - All right.
- Just to get myself ready.
(water rushes and splashes)
(ominous adventure music)
- [Mark] There's Joe, our guide.
- [Coyote] Joe. - Yup.
- [Coyote] Joe knows these rivers these rivers
better than anybody, don't you Joe?
- Yeah, this is my passion right here.
Hang on!
- [Coyote] Eagles come in many shapes and sizes.
We've seen a lot of juveniles since we've been here.
Those eagles are mostly dark in coloration.
What we're after is the full-grown adults
with that brilliant, white head and the white tail.
Nothing is more iconic in the world of raptors
than a bald eagle.
It truly is something to be amazed by.
We're gonna hop off on land here,
take a little walk around, and do some exploring.
Maybe find some bones and keep our eyes peeled for eagles.
- [Mark] All right good, try to find some tracks.
- [Coyote] Yeah.
(splashing footsteps)
Here, check this out.
Look at that, it's a bone of some sort,
and it's big.
I'm guessing that probably belonged
to a moose at some point.
- [Mark] You think a moose?
- Probably, there aren't many deer in this area.
I doubt it's a bear, but yeah,
pretty well worn.
It's not a moose skull, but let's keep searching,
we'll find something good on these plateaus.
(squishing, splashing footsteps)
(laughter)
- [Mark] Man down.
- This is what happens when you get
in the sticky situations. - You're on.
- {Mark] Yeah. - Lose a boot.
- [Coyote] Austin, our on-location photographer
just got stuck in the sink mud.
- [Austin] Yup. - You all right?
- [Austin] Oh yeah.
- Man, that stuff is crazy, look how gelatinous that is.
- [Austin] Woo!
- You looked up and before you knew it
you were almost knee-deep in it.
Watch yourself Mark, you're walking right into it.
- [Mark] Ooh, yeah I am, wow, look at that.
(squishy splashes)
Woo! - That's crazy.
Wow, check that out.
Those are grizzly prints right there.
(pounding, ominous music tones)
You can see the paw pads right up here,
And this track specifically, you can see
the marks where the claws went in.
And the way to identify that it's a grizzly track is
you've got about an inch between the paw pads
and the actual claw marks.
Watch your backs guys, we are definitely
in grizzly territory.
- [Joe] All right.
- [Coyote] All right, back on the boat.
Heading downriver, looking for eagles.
- [Mark] Rolling. - Are we rolling?
- [Mark] Yeah. - Okay, we've got
a mature bald eagle right up here in this tree.
Look at how gorgeous that bird is.
Can we get a little closer, till you see if
you can get the shot?
Right there, just staring down at us.
How majestic is that bird?
(soft piano music)
- [Mark] There it is.
- All right, cool. - Nice.
- Nice, our first mature eagle of the day.
Okay, now we just gotta find a spot
where we can stop the raft and get some great shots.
So, just up here to my left we've got two eagles
right on the shoreline.
Filming eagles is not easy.
They can be very skittish.
You want to move in as slow as you possibly can,
stay stealthy, set up the 600mm lens
and try to get this shot.
(playful, adventurous music)
We've been on the river for hours,
looking for this one opportunity
to actually film these eagles.
I think this is it, I'm so excited.
Okay, so now we're trying to sneak in close
on the eagles.
Mark's got the 600mm we're trying to stay
in a straight line, so that the animals only think
it's one human sneaking up on 'em.
Careful, this is sink mud.
- [Mark] Running speed.
- [Coyote] Wow, that's cool.
Now, the two eagles that we're looking at
that is pretty much the king and queen
of what's considered the eagle council grounds.
And in the winter, there will be over 1,000 eagles
right here where these two rivers converge.
The water doesn't actually freeze,
so it's like an eagle buffet line
of eating all these salmon
that are still swimming upstream.
Okay, so right now we're gonna slowly try
to move in and get an even better shot.
(whispering) Look at how the ground is moving,
I hope he doesn't sink.
He's gonna get up on that ridge line.
Get the shot, come on, get the shot.
Get the shot.
This is probably about as close
as we are gonna be able to get
without having to forge the river.
- I'm trying to film eagles, man.
It's not easy, but we're still quite a ways off.
I'm trying to look to see how I might be able
to get even closer.
- This is pretty cool.
Right now we have found an eagle nest,
right up here in the tree.
Mark's filming it, getting a pretty good shot.
We can't determine if it's an active
or an inactive nest.
We can't see if there's any chicks in there.
But we have two adults that are hanging out
in this area, assuming that that is their throne.
- Cool, all right then.
- Okay, so we're changing up the strategy
just a touch here. - Yup.
- Mark's gonna be up front, operating the 600mm
from the front of the raft.
We've got an eagle up here in the trees.
We're gonna try to do a drift-by
and get an epic shot.
You ready for this?
All right, load it up.
- All right, get in.
This is fun chasing eagles. - Yeah.
You gotta have the right gear (taps)
that's for sure.
- Yeah, it's definitely a learning curve.
We've never tried to get shots like this before.
This certainly isn't an animal that I can catch
and present in front of the cameras.
It's kind of like this constant treasure hunt
where you're looking for the next great opportunity
to catch a shot.
And coming up right here, we've got a mature eagle
up in the tree, so we're gonna try
to just drift by and get a shot.
And maybe it'll fly just as we're passing
underneath it.
(slow, ominous music tones)
It's the closest we've been to a bird
all day long.
Mark's perched up on this log
and he's getting the shot.
(majestic orchestral tones with piano)
- Got it. - Yeah.
(heavy beat guitar-strumming music)
- Pretty sharp.
Oh yeah, look at that. - Dang.
- Nice, see we cut that together
with Mario's shot, 'cause Mario's got
it coming, leaving the tree, he goes woosh
right past you and he zooms out.
And you turn and you go, "Got it!"
That was awesome.
Nice shot. - Bam.
- All right, our first epic eagle shot
of the day, woo!.
Well how cool was that?
Spending the day out here on the rivers
chasing down eagles. - Woo!
- And we finally got the epic shot.
(claps)
Huh, I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave, stay wild.
We'll see you on the next location.
(laughter, claps)
Nice!
If you enjoyed this On Location,
make sure to go back and watch us get
up close with a baby red fox.
And don't forget subscribe,
so you can join me and the crew
on the next location.
(pounding explosion, coyote howls)
(birds chirp)