A bald eagle sits near its nest by the Homer motorhome dump on June 24, 2017, across the Sterling Highway from the Homer Post Office. Since 2010, a pair of bald eagles has nested in the area near Beluga Slough south of the Lake Street and Sterling Highway intersection. The first nest was destroyed when the tree fell down in a winter storm. In 2012 the eagles built a new nest across from the Homer Post Office by the motorhome dump station. In 2014 they built another nest in a new tree closer to the slough. In 2016 they built another nest, but in 2017 moved back to the post office location.
A captain with the Medford, Mass., fire department, this summer marks the 15th time Peter MacDonald has visited Alaska. He works overtime and trades leave with other firefighters to take an extended vacation to Alaska.
“I’ve got the Alaska bug bad,” he said.