American Shad Life History

The complete underwater life history of The American shad on the Atlantic Coast.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

[@Interp66]

Great information thanks for sharing!

[@robertmichelson6291]

I am glad you enjoyed the presentation!

[@Ggordonhorseballs]

Thanks for posting. One of the more interesting side shows of the massive Columbia River shad run is watching the Osprey eagles target post spawn shad as they run the gauntlet back to the ocean. This occurs in August and September which seems to coincide with the hatching of the birds young. The shad can be seen on electronic fish finder equipment very high up in the water column. (1 foot to five feet or so deep) and even at times with their dorsals sticking out of the water. They do not follow typical upstream travel lanes and are quite spread out during this time. The Osprey are not shy about targeting them within feet of anchored salmon boats. It is a kick to see them splash down and almost at will, fly off with a shad gushing blood from the talon wounds and make the delivery to their waiting chicks.

[@AmrothSkywalker]

Whered u get this from?

[@beckharlan9688]

Hi Robert, I'm curious where you were able to find (or film) the shots of American shad underwater. I'm working on a short film about shad and have had trouble filming them underwater in the Potomac.

[@robertmichelson6291]

Hi Beck, I shot the underwater footage in the upper Connecticut River near the MA and VT borders. Water quality was much clearer near the headwaters than in the Chesapeake Bay, and its' tributaries. Let me know if you need any underwater footage for your project. Interested to learn more about the film project. Where there is no frame of reference with underwater photography and/or video it really does not matter where those clips are acquired, as long as all topside footage is accurate to location.

[@beckharlan9688]

Thanks Robert! Here's a link to our trailer. It's a pretty low budget project. Just my friend and I working on it in our spare time. vimeo.com/155451219 We would love to talk to you about using your footage.

[@jimmyboycapitals24]

are you ever going to finish that movie Ms. Harlan

[@AmrothSkywalker]

Where is the rest of the video it seems like it is cut off. I want more! Lol

[@robertmichelson6291]

This life history segment is part of a feature 1/2 hour documentary titled "Return From The Sea...The Restoration of American Shad to the Atlantic Coast". The DVD is only available in disc form for $19.95, plus shipping.

[@AmrothSkywalker]

@@robertmichelson6291 where can i buy this?

[@fredfable5655]

The boring video of the year...