![](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_442-cropped-1024x682.jpg)
On Saturday, September 23, Maine Audubon’s 48th annual Bald Eagles of Merrymeeting Bay trip left Boothbay Harbor with beautiful, sunny weather. The five-hour round trip took us through a variety of habitats as we cruised on open ocean to the mouth of the Kennebec River, up the river to Merrymeeting Bay, and then back to Boothbay down the Sasanoa and Sheepscot Rivers.
In all, we saw 35 Bald Eagles, as well as other birds including Double-crested Cormorants, Sanderlings, and Northern Gannets.
Here are some photos from the trip (all photos by Ariana van den Akker/Maine Audubon):
![Cormorants on a rock.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_147.jpg)
![Two adult Bald Eagles in a tree along the Kennebec River.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_311.jpg)
![Sanderlings on Popham Beach.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_166.jpg)
![Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox scopes the shoreline for birds.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_538.jpg)
![A Northern Gannet flies over the ocean off the coast of Cape Newagen.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_099-cropped.jpg)
![A juvenile Bald Eagle flies along the banks of the Kennebec River.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_266.jpg)
![Trip-goers point out a Bald Eagle while cruising on the Kennebec River.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_529.jpg)
![A Bald Eagle feeding on a seal carcass.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_255.jpg)
![Dick Anderson on the mic](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_524.jpg)
![A juvenile Bald Eagle sitting on a rock.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_331.jpg)
![Woman on a boat](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_475.jpg)
![A juvenile Bald Eagle flies away from the boat.](https://maineaudubon.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/20170923_Bald-Eagle-Cruise-AvdA_279.jpg)