:26:00
Some reach it a little too soon.
:26:10
For salmon that make it past
the gauntlet of predators
:26:13
time is running out.
:26:16
Powerful instincts have brought
them back
:26:18
to lay and fertilize the eggs
of the next generation.
:26:23
Only one of a hundred born here
have survived to perform
:26:27
this final act
:26:29
and in giving life,
all will die.
:26:43
Their eggs will develop
beneath the ice of winter
:26:46
in water enriched
:26:48
by their parents'
decaying bodies
:26:51
turning loss to renewal,
ending to beginning.
:27:17
After as few
as six weeks of warmth
:27:20
the air grows chilly.
:27:23
Summer visitors head south
to escape the fierce cold ahead.
:27:34
The first snowfall
can arrive in August.
:27:39
Now Alaska's animals must employ
every instinct and adaptation
:27:43
for winter survival.
:27:47
As many as 4,000 eagles
gather along the Chilkat River
:27:51
in the southeast
:27:53
the largest known congregation
of bald eagles in the world.