Fisherman reels at rare boat visitor
VANCOUVER In the picture, the eagle’s golden-yellow talons curl on the edge of the boat.
Derril McKenzie, a millwright from Kelowna, B.C., smiles into the camera, leaning in to get both the eagle and himself into the shot, seemingly unfazed.
The story of how the fisherman came to pose with an eagle began the morning of Aug. 31 on a routine annual fishing trip to Gardom Lake just outside of Salmon Arm, B.C.
McKenzie and his brother-inlaw, Dean Wirachousaky, decided to try their luck at a spot that has proved lucky for other fishermen.
“All of a sudden the eagle came out of nowhere. I noticed it just out of the corner of my eye and thought it was a crow, and then as it got closer I thought it was a raven. And then I could see as it spread its wings out that it was bigger than that. And it plunked itself on the bow of the boat.”
McKenzie said his first reaction was total surprise and shock.
As far as he knows, eagles usually stay away from people.
The bird, which McKenzie called Eddie, hopped down from the bow to the floor of the boat, and seemed like it was looking for something.
He thinks the bird might have been fed before from a boat and was probably looking for fish.
Wirachousaky revved the engine, thinking the eagle might take off if the boat sped up. It did, but decided to land on McKenzie’s head.
“It had one foot on my shoulder and one on my head. It put two holes in my shirt but didn’t leave a mark on my shoulder at all. Or on my head. It was very gentle.
“If it wanted to hurt us I’m pretty sure it could have.”
That’s when McKenzie says he felt a tiny bit of fear but all the while he was trying to give his brother-in-law the camera so he could get a picture.
Wirachousaky decided to give the bird a nudge with the oar because he didn’t know what the bird might do next.
The bird jumped in the water and swam back to shore, then flew up to a branch. When McKenzie told the story to his family, he said it was met with wows and “big eyeballs.”
He says he reckons that if he didn’t have pictures to prove it, he probably wouldn’t be believed.