Some years ago, Florida resident Mark Smith sold all his possessions and opted for a de-cluttered, stress-free life, RVing across America to photograph animals. It was liberating, he says, broadened his mind, and led him to his profession: filming predatory birds hunting along the water.
Most summers since settling back in his home state in 2017, Smith, 52, catches a flight to Stewart Island in coastal British Columbia where he films and photographs birds on fish-feeding frenzies. Armies of bald eagles soaring high, diving for the kill, and feasting on hake are seen nearby at Arran Rapids, one of the world’s most dangerous tidal currents.
The annual bird buffet inspires him, he says; the eagles’ struggle for survival contrasts his own.
“It makes you realize how insignificant your problems might be compared to these animals who have to do this day in and day out just to survive,” Smith told The Epoch Times, adding that he finds their hunting activities “grounding” and “so very humbling.”
The yearly feast is caused by tidal swells that flush massive biomasses in from the deep sea to the surface. Then, teams of fish dying of decompression sickness all float up, bloated and vulnerable, becoming easy prey for bald eagles looking for a meal.
Smith, who usually arrives on Stewart Island with his son Torin, 26, toting his own camera, stays at a lodge on Stuart Island—a lodge he helped promote initially by posting “The Great Eagle Show,” as the fish feast is locally known. He posted awe-instilling videos on social media, causing a buzz. Bird photographers soon started coming to the island.
Last summer, Smith and Torin stayed and photographed for 10 soaking-wet, rainy days. They joined the other photographers on a Zodiac to capture the eagles on the water and brave the fierce rapids. The surging tides stretching for kilometres force water into the coastal island cluster. With the gaps in between islands narrowing to only a few hundred metres in places, vast pressure from the tide forces violent jet streams and whirlpools through. Some areas are too ferocious for boating.
Filming at Arran Rapids demands seasoned sea legs.
“[The rapids] can shift the whole world underneath you,” Smith said. “You have to be able to move fluidly with the boat to be able to keep the bird in frame.”
For their entire 10-day stay, it dripped and drizzled in between heavy downpours. But Smith spoke favourably of the overcast weather: “Rain will scare away some photographers,” he said. “But I actually kind of prefer it, because it adds a completely different element to everything that you’re shooting on.”
One particular day on the water offered all the right conditions.
“The rain had just kind of let up, and we had what I would call the perfect light,” Smith said. “The light is really soft when you have a lot of clouds, which then allows you to see more detail on the birds.”
Many photographers prefer sunlight, but Smith thinks that drowns out the details in deep shadows and harsh highlights.
In a video taken that day, slow-motion droplets add drama to iconic bald eagles displaying their stoic readiness to strike. A palette of greyed tones matches their steely-eyed looks as one raptor drops from the sky, adjusting its flight with expert precision. Talons bared, it dashes its water-logged prey with a splash of water and then lifts off with its meal.
Smith first saw this eagle from far off and then as it came in. “I recognized the behaviour,” he said. “[The eagle] had seen something in the water and was coming right at me.”
He lined up his camera and hit record, then just as the eagle clutched the hake, a whirlpool formed and nearly pulled both bird and fish underwater. Suddenly, the raptor ejected itself from the sea and, still lugging its prey, took flight.
Posting hundreds of eye-popping scenes like this, Smith became a sort of minor social media star. Joe Rogan, Will Smith, and others reposted his clips of the Eagle Show.
As the day’s filming ends, the tide ebbs and the eagles vanish. With several hours of daylight on their hands, the boaters seek new subject matter around Stuart Island.
“There are also a lot of big marine mammals in there,” Smith said. “There are a lot of humpbacks, orcas, Pacific white-sided dolphins, doll porpoise.”
Besides eagles, some land and sea animals also capitalize on the yearly hake bonanza.
“There are sea lions, there are otters,” Smith said. “I imagine in some areas, the bears even come down and munch on these fish.”
He showed The Epoch Times a black bear’s head he had photographed. Popping through a wreath of salmonberry bushes, looking straight into the camera, the furry portrait displays fine detail.
If it seems heartless to let so many predators ravage these helpless fish, Smith points out that they were doomed the moment the tide took them. Swept in from the deep sea, the fish experience a sudden change in pressure that makes them partially explode. The condition in humans is known as the bends.
“There are literally hundreds of fish just floating on the top, and they’re going to die,” he said. “The eagles come and kind of clean it all up.” He added that the sick fish were so copious last summer that the eagles couldn’t gorge them all.
