State’s fish and wildlife department posted a video showing an adult female guarding a nest of eggs

Adult winter-run Chinook salmon have been spotted in northern California’s McCloud River for the first time in nearly a century, according to the California department of fish and wildlife (CDFW).

The salmon were confirmed to be seen near Ash Camp, tucked deep in the mountains of northern California where Hawkins creek flows into the McCloud River. A video posted by CDFW and taken by the Pacific states marine fisheries commission shows a female Chinook salmon guarding her nest of eggs on the river floor.

Winter-run Chinook salmon is considered an endangered species by NOAA, and is marked by the organization as “one of just nine species considered to be most at risk of extinction in the near-term”.