What do you think they’re talking about?

Wildlife photographer Christian Sasse has dedicated almost 20 years of his life to photographing eagles. Despite having taken countless photos and videos of the raptors, one special eagle encounter stands out above the rest.

Sasse was recently on a photography trip in a remote area outside Vancouver when he stumbled upon a huge group of eagles. He couldn’t believe his eyes — there were countless birds all hanging out in shallow water, bathing themselves and socializing.

Sasse wanted nothing more than to snap some photos of what he was seeing. But he knew he had to be patient. If he made his presence known, they’d all fly away.

“Eagles are very skittish,” Sasse told The Dodo.

It took several days of driving his car up to the eagles’ pond and leaving it there so they could get used to it. Once they were comfortable with his car’s presence, he was able to sneak in a few photos.

“Usually what I would do is take a lot of these shots actually handheld, which [involves] taking a huge lens into your hand, holding your breath for at least 30 seconds and absolutely trying not to move at all,” Sasse said.

The day Sasse was able to capture a video of the eagles, there were at least 1,000 of them in the pond. For Sasse, it was fascinating getting to watch their behavior. While many people may think of eagles as mostly solitary birds, according to Sasse, they’re actually incredibly social.

“As chaotic as it may look, they actually have a lot of social ranking in the way they bathe, the way they take off and the way they do every single thing,” Sasse said.

Sasse posted a video of the eagles on his Facebook page to the delight of his viewers, with one commenter aptly describing the gathering as an “eagle convention.”

While wildlife biologists understand a lot about eagle behavior, these “conventions” are still mostly a mystery.

“As far as these big social gatherings go, there is absolutely almost nothing known,” Sasse said.

The mystery surrounding why bald eagles gather in such large groups is part of what made witnessing it so memorable for Sasse.

“It’s a very special experience that, I mean, my goodness — it just makes you shiver,” Sasse said.