[HN Gopher] America's bald eagle population continues to soar
___________________________________________________________________
America's bald eagle population continues to soar
Author : infodocket
Score : 271 points
Date : 2021-03-24 16:02 UTC (6 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.fws.gov)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.fws.gov)
| jimmaswell wrote:
| I never saw them as a kid, then one day they started showing up
| along the Hudson River again. They don't seem to stray far from
| the water though.
| blueberry_47 wrote:
| X years into living in an area where bald eagles are "common" I
| still act like a little kid when I see one. Stunning birds.
| kebman wrote:
| Man, I really want to see one some day! Made me think of this
| story telling of an eagle allegedly swooping down and snatching a
| toddler right from the ground on the island Leka in Norway. She
| was apparently playing in a blanket, so the talons didn't scratch
| her, but she was carried almost two kilometres away. The ordeal
| triggered a search party that eventually found her almost 200
| metres up the mountain side, unschated. Norwegian source:
| https://www.nettavisen.no/artikkel/ble-svanhild-2-tatt-av-or...
| So if you live in eagle territory, you better watch your
| children. ;)
|
| Anyway, I remember trying to video those things where I grew up.
| But they were pretty shy, so I could never get close enough to
| get a good picture of them. Really amazing bird though not Bald
| Eagles given that I'm from Europe. If you've got the patience and
| the equipment to get good pictures of those, then kudos to you,
| because that's not easy!
| lostlogin wrote:
| I wish the Haast eagle was still around. They were just massive
| and hunted Moa. They were likely hunted by humans.
|
| I guess I should be careful what I wish for.
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haast%27s_eagle
| mkl wrote:
| I think it's more that all the big birds the eagles hunted
| were hunted by humans. It wasn't just moa, the other big
| birds are gone too. E.g. search for New Zealand here:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_gigantism
| lostlogin wrote:
| > Island gigantism, or insular gigantism
|
| These are great terms. Thanks.
| farnsworth wrote:
| Move to Seattle, I used to see one almost every day on my
| commute where it would hang out above the 520 bridge,
| presumably fishing in Lake Washington.
| mongol wrote:
| Why did the eagle not start to feast on her?
| 0xfaded wrote:
| I've shared a thermal wingtip to wingtip with one soaring under
| a hang glider.
| datavirtue wrote:
| Pun intended
| hctaw wrote:
| I wonder if they can do anything about the carp problem in the
| midwest
| hprotagonist wrote:
| There's a nesting pair near my house these days. Majestic looking
| birds, and they sound like seagulls with brain damage :)
| ahelwer wrote:
| Absolute lies, they sound exactly like a red-tailed hawk.
| reportingsjr wrote:
| You've been watching too many movies then!
| https://youtu.be/PQ2uMauyBow?t=35
|
| I was doing some trail building this last fall and there was
| a red tailed hawk nest across the valley. It was pretty
| amazing to hear that classic "eagle" call every now and again
| while working.
| ISL wrote:
| I'm fairly certain that GP was making a joke.
| reportingsjr wrote:
| I assumed as much, but wanted to provide info to people
| who might not be aware while also making a bit of a joke
| myself.
| jimmyed wrote:
| OP = original poster GP = ?
| wnevets wrote:
| Grand Parent?
| NortySpock wrote:
| Grandparent Poster, so two (or more) replies above.
| Igelau wrote:
| OPP = other people's posts
| nowandlater wrote:
| lol, they definitely sound like monkeys.
| jimmyed wrote:
| My stomach was ready to drop towards the end of the sentence, but
| the climax made my heart soar.
| funkattack wrote:
| Does remembering this:
| https://www.upi.com/Archives/1982/06/09/Americas-bald-eagle-...
| make me old?
| Igelau wrote:
| Remembering West Germany is indeed a symptom of the oldness.
| TheCondor wrote:
| Xcel Energy has a great Bald Eagle camera near one of their
| energy generation plants in Colorado
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAy3rgJszQg
|
| It's insanely addictive. Over 40 eaglets have hatched out of
| there since they've been counting. Also potentially interesting
| to this crowd, the energy plant is natural gas but was originally
| a thorium nuclear plant.
| duxup wrote:
| I grew up living along the Missouri River. Eagles of any sort
| were a rare site as a child. It was a big deal when we saw one or
| one visited the area for a while. The small town paper would even
| publish photos and stories when was nearby near for a while.
|
| After nearly two decades I left the area and sightings of bald
| eagles were just run of the mill every day events like any other
| bird.
|
| I live elsewhere now and a couple pairs of bald eagles live in a
| urban / suburban area near me seemingly quite healthy and happy.
|
| It has been a pretty amazing change.
| snarf21 wrote:
| This is great news. It is really about the pesticides more than
| anything else. In my area, hawks are _EVERYWHERE_. I see at least
| 1 every 5 miles along the highway (farmland) watching for food.
| This was not true 20 years ago.
| uberdru wrote:
| This is true in my experience as well. I have not seen any
| discussion of it, but, man, there are a lot of hawks, harriers,
| and, yes, bald eagles where there used to be very few.
| azinman2 wrote:
| Well people also used to shoot and stuff the bald eagle
| specifically because it was the national symbol. I believe
| that's what drove down the population a long time ago.
| acdha wrote:
| That was a factor but a bigger one was widespread use of DDT:
|
| https://www.fws.gov/midwest/eagle/history/index.html
| ryanmcbride wrote:
| Anecdotally I've been seeing a lot more birds of prey in my
| area over the last 10 years or so too. They're so cool to
| watch.
| ogre_codes wrote:
| Pesticides are the more recent threat, but their numbers were
| hit pretty hard prior to DDT by hunting. Congress put a stop to
| that in the 40s. Farmers saw them as a threat to livestock.
| slowhand09 wrote:
| Hunting... Eagles existed in such large numbers and predated
| on small lifestock. For 36 years, Alaska paid a bounty of $2
| per dead eagle. They had a confirmed 120,195 eagles which
| bounty was paid on.
|
| http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=baldeagle.printerf.
| ..
| NittLion78 wrote:
| You still see a lot of them being brought into wildlife rescue
| hospitals for lead poisoning from having eaten birdshot or in
| some other way ingesting fired ammunition. Seems to be the
| biggest issue in the Midwest for them, anyway.
|
| Either way, as a kid I remember being told to assume you'd
| never see one and they'd probably be extinct in my lifetime.
| Now I couldn't even tell you how many I've seen, from as far
| east as PA and north to AK.
| JoeAltmaier wrote:
| I see reports about 'a dozen' etc suffering from lead
| ingestion. But no national statistics, just anecdotes.
|
| Considering that hunters shoot millions of lead bullets each
| year, it seems a small problem? It's suggested that birds eat
| guts from eviscerated animals that hunters leave behind.
| Perhaps a policy of burying or scattering the guts would
| solve the problem?
| hkarthik wrote:
| It's a much smaller scale problem than the pesticide issue.
|
| Here in Northern California, we're actually unable to use
| poisons on pest rodents like squirrels and rats since they
| often enter the ecosystem through raptors ingesting them.
|
| My friends with a lot of land were advised to get pellet
| guns and air rifles to deal with their squirrel problems.
| It's considered the lowest impact to the ecosystem and food
| chain.
| WalterBright wrote:
| They are always circling over my yard, as they have a nest in the
| nearby greenbelt.
|
| The fun thing is there's a line through my property. The eagles'
| territory is west of the line, the hawks' is to the east.
| Sometimes they fight over the location of that line.
|
| The hawks are half the size of the eagles, but they don't take no
| ** from the eagles, and it's a fair fight. The hawks usually win
| the tussle and drive the eagles back over the line. It's like a
| WW1 aerial dogfight.
|
| And this is in the middle of the Seattle metropolitan area.
| subsubzero wrote:
| In California I have never seen a bald eagle(besides a zoo), and
| I have lived here almost 90% of my life, both north and south.
| Having lived in Colorado for a few years they were seen somewhat
| regularly, maybe once every 2 months or so, One day I saw three
| in one day and was blown away.
| robinsord wrote:
| Did you never leave your house? They're literally everywhere in
| Ojai. You can go on a walk at the lake and see them nesting
| 24/7 in broad daylight.
| thruhiker wrote:
| I was rafting in Montana last summer and we got the treat of
| seeing several osprey and eagles during our trip. Such cool birds
| of prey!
| [deleted]
| tomatotomato37 wrote:
| I find it amusing the article had to clarify the lower 48 states.
| In the majority of the United States bald eagles are a rare and
| majestic sight. In Alaska they are on par with seagulls.
| tshaddox wrote:
| > In the majority of the United States bald eagles are a rare
| and majestic sight.
|
| I didn't realize this until recently. I grew up in Missouri in
| the 1990s, where they were relatively common outside of town.
| You'd still point them out to other people when you saw one,
| but it wasn't a huge deal. Then I went to the Oakland Zoo a few
| years ago and they seemed to be a very popular attraction.
| dylan604 wrote:
| Not to take anything away from seeing a bald eagle, but for a
| lot of children that live in the city, seeing regular
| livestock like a cow in person is a rare thing. The same
| could be said for the night sky. It's all a matter of
| vantage. You can see lots of things as photographs on
| websites in great detail, but the first time you see that
| same thing in real life with your own eyes even if it is in
| less detail, it is an experience one doesn't forget.
| Arrath wrote:
| Oh yeah. Very majestic birds, until you see a dozen of 'em
| squabbling over prime spots on the village garbage scow. Alaska
| is on an entirely different level.
| duxup wrote:
| They're common in a lot of areas now even in the lower 48.
| nightski wrote:
| We see them all over in Minnesota/North Dakota.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| If I'm reading their survey correctly, those states have
| relatively few bald eagles. The reason I checked is that I
| also remember seeing them often in SD, but was never sure if
| it was a bald eagle or my parents didn't know/were lying to
| me. I'm still unsure, they exist but I've never seen a flock
| like that picture posted here.
| xkde wrote:
| Last I checked, Minnesota had the largest population in the
| lower 48. I personally see them all the time.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| The survey details are very confusing, the terms change
| from the legend to the table, but I did not notice that
| the border chosen seperates Minnesota from the Dakotas.
| The Dakotas have relatively few I meant.
| eevilspock wrote:
| _" According to scientists from the Service's Migratory Bird
| Program, the bald eagle population climbed to an estimated
| 316,700 individual bald eagles in the lower 48 states."_
|
| Alaska Department of Fish and Game[1]:
|
| _" Found only in North America, bald eagles are more abundant
| in Alaska than anywhere else in the United States. The Alaska
| population is estimated at 30,000 birds."_
|
| So you think they bent over backwards, and dishonestly at that,
| for a 10% change in reported count?
|
| Also, "on par with seagulls"?
|
| ---
|
| [1] http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=baldeagle.main
| dmoy wrote:
| Also note that 30k Alaska number is from 2008
| resist_futility wrote:
| "Amusing"
|
| "on par with seagulls" meaning seeing 100 in one single area
| [deleted]
| cgh wrote:
| We have a couple thousand of them in my town on a seasonal
| basis every year because they feed on the spawning salmon. They
| are a bit of a tourist attraction.
| timmg wrote:
| Holy crap. Now I want to be a tourist in your town :)
|
| Er, which town is it?
| standeven wrote:
| Not sure which town the parent was referring to, but we
| have this in Chilliwack, BC.
|
| https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/incredible-sight-
| thousands-o...
| UI_at_80x24 wrote:
| I live in the Great Lakes region and I have seen several over
| my life span.
| mkl wrote:
| Tangentially, why do Americans call their middle 48 states the
| "lower 48"? Alaska is north of them and Hawaii is south of
| them. Does "lower" mean "east" somehow? If lower meant south as
| on a map, the actual lower 48 would be everything except Alaska
| and Minnesota.
| alanbernstein wrote:
| Well, they're the "lower 48" in terms of the date of
| admission to the union...
| senkora wrote:
| My first thought was that the term could've predated Hawaii
| becoming a state, which only happened in 1959. But that seems
| to be false; the term only started getting popular around
| 1967: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Lower+48&
| year_...
| vermontdevil wrote:
| Just wait till you learn of Down East.
| oasisbob wrote:
| "Lower 48" is a term from Alaska, and predates Hawaii's
| statehood. ie, an updated version would be "Lower 49".
| whyenot wrote:
| ...but Alaska and Hawaii both became states at almost
| exactly the same time (January and August 1959). Maybe it
| makes sense if Alaska considered themselves a state in the
| years before they officially became one? Otherwise, there
| would be no need for the "lower" part.
| fermienrico wrote:
| It's practical to call the collective states with joint
| borders. For example, "Lower 48 shipping" on Amazon is
| different rate.
| jachee wrote:
| Can confirm.
|
| In Juneau the best place to find them between salmon runs is
| near the landfill.
| jeh993 wrote:
| Years ago, we were shooing a documentary in Valdez and needed
| the quintessential bald eagle shot. After looking everywhere,
| we asked the locals where to find them. They said the dump.
| We got our shots.
| nashashmi wrote:
| I had the fortune of seeing two bald eagles at a landfill.
| Apparently they are very common at landfills.
| kibwen wrote:
| Relatedly, peregrine falcons were removed from the endangered
| species list in 1999 after decades of conservation efforts. Since
| 2002 there's been a persistent falcon nest up on the 40th floor
| of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning, here's a live feed (looks
| like the mother just laid her third egg two days ago and the
| falcons have begun incubating): https://www.aviary.org/birds-
| habitats/live-streams/
|
| EDIT: Aaaand yep, there's the fourth egg. :)
| mkl wrote:
| Less relatedly than they might seem though. Falcons are more
| closely related to parrots than to eagles.
| PostThisTooFast wrote:
| Aren't bald eagles profoundly stupid?
|
| I won't draw the obvious parallel...
| wiredfool wrote:
| Bald Eagles are HUGE.
|
| You don't realize it until one drops out of a tree near you and
| flies off. Either that or you see them feeding on road kill deer.
| yardie wrote:
| I didn't realize how large they were.
|
| But I saw one at the top of an electrical tower and from the
| ground it was large but not gigantic. Much later on they took
| the nest down and it was the size of a Mini! Yes, the British
| car.
| danaliv wrote:
| I get fly-bys from bald eagles in the traffic pattern at an
| airport I frequent. Even from the cockpit they look enormous.
| Definitely don't want one of those monsters to wind up on a
| leading edge.
|
| Incidentally it's interesting how many raptors seem to like
| hanging around in airport traffic patterns. I realize there's a
| bit of a selection bias here, but I do work at similar
| altitudes away from airports and sightings aren't nearly as
| common out in the field. I like to think they're reminding the
| metal birds who's boss.
| soperj wrote:
| Likely to do with hot tarmac making it easier to catch a
| upward current.
| danaliv wrote:
| Funny thing is I never see them (or any other raptors)
| thermaling over pavement, not even factoring in a thermal
| getting skewed by wind.
| bengale wrote:
| I used to have an office that overlooked an airport (in the
| UK), and I used to watch the birds of prey taking rabbits off
| the grass surrounding the runways. Seemed to be a lot of them
| on there, I guess since its a fairly big area where they
| don't get disturbed.
| danaliv wrote:
| I've wondered if it's something like that--a wide open
| space where the prey is easier to see.
| sethammons wrote:
| Wait til you see Golden Eagles :) We have a mating pair of
| Balds and it is fun to watch their young get bigger and then
| take off. Every year around the same time, we have a giant
| Golden that cruises around the lake and forest. The first time
| I saw it, I couldn't believe how big it was. Like, over a 7ft
| wingspan. I realize Balds are close, but this Golden one is a
| monster.
| gcheong wrote:
| There's some video on YouTube of Golden Eagles pulling young
| mountain goats off mountain cliffs to kill for food. On the
| flip-side, seeing our "majestic" Baldies scavenging for food
| at an Alaskan trash dump like a common seagull was a bit
| incongruous with my image of them until that point as well.
| dboreham wrote:
| Came to say the same thing: Bald Eagles are I think regular
| sized. Golden Eagles are like "whoa, someone zoomed that
| eagle to 3X".
| SigmundA wrote:
| There is variation, some balds are bigger too especially more
| north. Generally though the two are almost identical in size:
| https://www.avianreport.com/bald-eagle-wingspan-versus-
| birds...
| kirubakaran wrote:
| Wait till you see Albatrosses :) 11ft wingspan :-p
| wiredfool wrote:
| An albatross isn't likely to drop out of a fir and fly off
| in a huff while I'm figuring out why the chickens are
| seriously unhappy.
|
| Also, semi off topic -- Great horned owls like using
| inflatable pools as bird baths.
| arethuza wrote:
| Sounds like the couple of times I've seen white tailed eagles
| near where I live in Scotland - I can see why they are called
| "flying barn doors".
| wirrbel wrote:
| I am always reminded of this meme
|
| https://img.ifunny.co/images/70898eeb8bc2323e320aca74b03bb9a...
|
| "Basically a glorified seagull"
| abstractbarista wrote:
| Wow, this is great to hear! I'm in North Carolina, and we have a
| beautiful (man-made) lake called Jordan Lake where the eagles can
| be frequently seen. I've been out on boats before and watched
| them grab fish out of the water. Then you see them fly up to a
| nest and chill. :) It's truly amazing.
| ehaskins wrote:
| The National Eagle Center in Wabasha, MN has several eagles which
| were injured now live there.
|
| Definitely worth the trip to stand within 10ft of several Eagles,
| and there are usually plenty of wild eagles within sight of there
| as well.
|
| https://www.nationaleaglecenter.org
| abcanthur wrote:
| More anecdata, I know of a catfish processor a few miles inland
| from the Mississippi River (the bluffs of the Mississippi are
| one of their favorite habitats) in Wisconsin where they scatter
| fish carcasses in the fields during the winter. I have seen
| flocks of no less than one hundred bald eagles in the field and
| roosted in the nearby trees. This is interesting to me
| regarding the view of Bald Eagles as apex predators (America!)
| or scavengers (like seeing them at a landfill). They are
| certainly both. I've gotten within yards of them a few times
| while cycling in the same area; they will be feeding on
| roadkill and they fly off just as I quietly roll up to them.
| They are huge, beautiful, totally majestic, very believable to
| imagine them flying off with a small lamb or nightmare
| scenario, a toddler.
| roland35 wrote:
| Lots of bald eagles are around Ohio now too! I never remember
| seeing any 20 years ago but now we have a few nests in our
| neighborhood.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| We have them on Long Island. In fact, a nesting pair has been in
| a nearby town for a few years. They have their own Facebook
| group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/baldeaglesofcenterportNY
|
| Centerport is a fairly well-off community, so they have some
| powerful allies (and you see some expen$ive camera gear).
|
| Their call is...unimpressive. I call it "The call of the sick
| gull."
|
| The classic "eagle" call is actually a redtail (we have them,
| too).
| alistairSH wrote:
| _Their call is...unimpressive. I call it "The call of the sick
| gull."_
|
| I had to Google it. So true. Like a song-bird crossed with
| nails-on-chalkboard.
|
| And the red-tail, which I have heard locally, is the stuff of
| (mouse/snake) nightmares.
| boulos wrote:
| Movies often dub a redtail hawk scream over bald eagle
| footage!
|
| https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=156187.
| ..
| eventualhorizon wrote:
| Can confirm. Have Red Tail nesting pair in my back yard. Have
| heard them a couple of times today.
| 29athrowaway wrote:
| Bald eagles eat fish and other animals like squirrels and prairie
| dogs. The size and health of the bald eagle population is also an
| indicator of the health and size of the species they use as food.
| ryanianian wrote:
| You'll also see collars of domestic dogs and cats in raptor
| nests. This is a frightening new thing to watch for in the
| semi-rural area near my parents' house. They're used to looking
| out for coyotes and raccoons which can be dangerous to pets.
| It's comparatively harder to eagle-proof a back yard.
| hinkley wrote:
| I know of someone who keeps hawks away from his chickens by
| interrupting flight paths into and out of his yard with
| plants of various size and spacing.
|
| Trees and trellises should help, but if you want a tiny dog
| and a big playground for your riding lawnmower, you're in for
| some disappointments.
| dclaw wrote:
| Happy to finally see them soaring here in California. Around this
| time last year I finally spotted one in the wild flying above my
| yard, it was tagged and everything. Gorgeous site to see.
| hinkley wrote:
| Are all of these birds from the same 800 bird gene pool or were
| birds relocated from Canada and Alaska?
| cooperadymas wrote:
| While not related to the bald eagle population rise, which has
| been going up for over a decade, I heard a theory about third and
| fourth order effects of the pandemic that involved rise in
| predator species like eagles.
|
| Basically, with fewer cars on the road for a large stretch of
| last spring, small critter populations would boom since
| automobile death is one of the leading modern causes of death in
| young critters.
|
| With the population of small animals on the rise, predators would
| have more accessible food sources allowing their populations to
| rise over the following years.
|
| I have no idea how this is holding up or whether its based in
| reality but I found it an interesting way to think about
| unintended consequences of a large shift in the modern way of
| living.
| abraae wrote:
| Not sure about in the US but here in NZ, birds of prey such as
| Australasian Harriers thrive by eating roadkill. It's common to
| round a corner and find one struggling to take off from the
| carcass it is eating in the middle of the road.
| NDizzle wrote:
| I just moved back to Arkansas after being in California for 20
| years. Here's a picture a local took along AR highway 59. 7 bald
| eagles hanging out.
|
| https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/155912289_4304...
|
| I have some good shots of one eating breakfast behind my house as
| well. Kind of gory though.
| metamet wrote:
| I saw two of them circling my neighborhood in Minneapolis last
| week. Gigantic, gorgeous wingspans. Few of my neighbors saw me
| outside looking up in the sky and came out to see what was
| going on and stood and watched for a bit too.
|
| It's always fun to see them on the drive up north, too. Such
| cool looking birds.
| bliteben wrote:
| I go birding in a spot near Astoria, Oregon and have counted
| over 70 individual bald eagles from one spot, some trees will
| have 20 alone perched in them.
| gcheong wrote:
| Grew up in Astoria (70's - mid 80's) and never saw that many
| at once. Would be interested to know where your spot is :).
| Although I've never seen them I've seen pictures of Snowy
| Owls at the South Jetty. https://www.jack-n-
| jill.net/blog/2012/12/south-jetty-snowy-o...
| steve_adams_86 wrote:
| According to national eagle center, "The average eagle needs
| between 1/2 and 1 pound of food each day.". So those animals
| are harvesting 35-70lb of food (other animals) per day.
| That's incredible to me! There must be so much life in that
| area.
|
| https://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/eagle-diet-feeding/
| thaumasiotes wrote:
| > So those animals are harvesting 35-70lb of food (other
| animals) per day. That's incredible to me! There must be so
| much life in that area.
|
| I mean, you could almost certainly harvest more than 70
| pounds of ants a day without making a dent in the ant
| population. Eagles can't eat ants, but "pounds of life"
| doesn't mean much.
| abakker wrote:
| I was going to say a similar thing. On one drive from SF to
| Spokane I was driving through central Oregon in the winter.
| There must have been a bald eagle on every other fence post
| for 10 miles at one point. counted over 100 birds of prey,
| most of them bald eagles.
| xiaolingxiao wrote:
| so much freedom!
| loceng wrote:
| Actually, yes.
| medium_burrito wrote:
| I've seen the same in driving up to Vancouver from YVR.
| Freedom spills over the border!
| allbedarned wrote:
| helllll yeah brother
| dylan604 wrote:
| should have gone with the turkey
| longshui wrote:
| allow the pigeon to disagree
| throwaway894345 wrote:
| Bald Eagles don't eat pigeon. Are you thinking of the
| Peregrine Falcon? Or am I misunderstanding your reference?
| [deleted]
| wnevets wrote:
| Another environmental regulation success story.
| goshx wrote:
| There's a nest here in South Florida which a couple uses every
| year. I hope the neighbor with a drone hasn't caused them to move
| permanently.
|
| Also, in Cape Canaveral there is a nest on the way to the
| Apollo/Saturn V center. I was lucky to see one of the eagles
| resting on top of the building when I went to watch a Falcon 9
| launch.
| mason55 wrote:
| Saw one flying over an intersection in suburban Colorado just
| last weekend. I had seen them "in the wild" before (e.g. while
| river rafting in PA) but it was interesting to see one while I
| was just out running errands.
| ngoldbaum wrote:
| There's a nest and nesting pair you can see really clearly from
| the wildlife viewing area at Barr Lake State Park, about a mile
| and a half from the parking lot. Helps to have a telephoto lens
| or decent pair of binoculars, although when I was there a few
| weeks ago there were several just hanging out in trees right
| next to trails.
| gullywhumper wrote:
| I live about 3/4 mile up river from a nest along the Mississippi
| River. My office overlooks the river and I keep a log of every
| time I see one flying by. You can walk almost under the nest, and
| when they're home you can get a sense of just how large they are.
| After 4 years of living here it never gets old - I dread the day
| we have to move.
| citilife wrote:
| The other day, I saw an eagle hunting over my neighborhood pond.
| Frankly, I was shocked to see it. Definitely appreciate the
| wildlife returning.
| disambiguation wrote:
| This remind me of a PlanetMoney episode from a while ago
|
| > https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2017/02/03/513302816/epis...
|
| > Over time, though, Harris's worldview changed. He started to
| see the downside to the industrial farming ... To replace the
| chemical fertilizer, he brought in chickens and let them roam
| free. Free-range chickens would fertilize the grass; the grass
| would nurture the cattle, and shoppers at Whole Foods would love
| Harris's organic beef. ... But then, the eagles started to
| descend on Harris's farm. Eagles eat chicken. Eagles love
| chicken.
|
| Since eagles are protected by law, the farmer wasn't allowed to
| hunt and clear the eagles from preying on his organic operation.
|
| No good deed goes unpunished?
| POiNTx wrote:
| The Biggest Little Farm[1] is a good documentary on this sort
| of topic. They started an organic farm and hit a similar pain
| point when coyotes started eating their chickens. They also had
| a problem with gophers eating their crops. I don't remember
| exactly but they were fighting the gophers with something, but
| it wasn't working that well. The solution was to let the
| gophers go wild, and the coyotes would take care of them
| instead of their chickens. They balanced each other out.
|
| Now I don't know how this works with bald eagles, but there
| might be a similar solution for this.
|
| [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8969332/
| [deleted]
| jobu wrote:
| Near the end of that podcast they talk about how Will Harris
| had evolved his farm to make money off the new flock of eagles
| that come to the farm:
|
| > _" But Will is resourceful, you know. He keeps trying to
| cross that gap. At one point as we're driving around the farm,
| we're next to this field with some chickens in it. And there's
| a pickup truck coming the other way. Will stops the Jeep to
| talk to the driver of the truck...."_
|
| > _" In the bed of the truck, there's a guy with a camera with
| this giant telephoto lens, which is apparently pretty common.
| People now come to Will's farm to see the eagles. He had this
| special Eagle Day a few days before I was there. He's even
| built cabins for people to rent out."_
| sn_master wrote:
| Can he use drones to scare them? Making noise and lights etc
| not kinetic force.
| KineticLensman wrote:
| Eagles can take down small drones that invade their airspace.
| They are also used to being mobbed by smaller birds.
|
| Eagles have actually been trialled as an anti-drone defence
| [0]. Although this isn't actually a good idea in the long
| run. A serious attacker could flood an eagle with a drone
| swarm, or make drones (e.g. explody, sharper blades) designed
| to hurt / kill eagles. It also takes considerable time and
| patience to train an eagle compared with the ease with which
| drones can be replaced.
|
| [0] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-europe-35750816
| tw04 wrote:
| Which is why you have dogs to protect your livestock.
|
| I think people forget that man's best friend became that way by
| doing jobs for us. Want your cattle and chickens protected from
| wolves, fox, eagles, etc? Train some dogs to protect them.
| whimsicalism wrote:
| Ah but you see that doesn't scale to industrial size non-
| industrial farming.
| pueblito wrote:
| I have guinea hens for pest mitigation and when the coyotes
| and/or hawks have picked off enough I just buy more. I pay
| about $2 each, it's not worth getting a trained dog to watch
| over them, especially since coyotes and raptors do me a huge
| solid by keeping the cottontail population in check
| tw04 wrote:
| You can adopt a dog from your local humane society for very
| little. When I say "train" I mean "find a dog that isn't
| going to eat your chickens or run away if you can't keep
| them in a fenced area".
|
| Unless you've actually got cattle you need herded and
| protected from wolves, pretty much any mutt over 60lbs is
| going to be good enough to keep the predators away. They'll
| also be happy to help the rabbits if you let them.
| frankfrankfrank wrote:
| Are you actually aware of dogs protecting free-range chickens
| against bald eagles? I am not sure that bald eagles really
| care about dogs. A bald eagle will swoop down and snatch a
| chicken or even two and fly away without even landing.
|
| That being said I think an even very loose "netting" that can
| consist of simply rope criss-crossing with certain gaps can
| sufficiently dissuade eagles and even other prey birds.
| tw04 wrote:
| >Are you actually aware of dogs protecting free-range
| chickens against bald eagles?
|
| At any given time I've got 3-5 bald eagles in the woods
| around my house. There are 3 houses with chickens in the
| neighborhood. The eagles won't go anywhere near a yard with
| a dog - I'm quite confident they aren't dumb enough to
| tangle with a large dog unless they have no other option
| for food.
|
| I have no doubt if an eagle was starving to death it might
| tangle with the dog and might even win, but I don't think
| that would be their first, second, or fifth choice if there
| were other food options.
| Floegipoky wrote:
| Livestock guardians as a general rule don't protect by
| fighting, but by convincing the predator that the risk is
| too high to bother. The guardian alerts and the flock
| reacts to the danger, seeking shelter, making noise,
| looking up, etc. Without an easy meal the predator moves
| on. Arial predators are especially risk-averse because it
| doesn't take much to cause a mortal injury.
|
| I've even heard of people using guardian geese instead of
| dogs. They're supposed to be very effective at preventing
| arial predation and orders of magnitude cheaper than dogs,
| though I've never heard anyone talk about them in the
| context of something the size of a bald eagle.
| [deleted]
| alistairSH wrote:
| Raptors are always amazing to watch. In flight, at rest, nesting,
| feeding/hunting. So cool.
|
| My house backs a golf course and we currently have a nesting pair
| of red-tail hawks about 200 yards away. Every once in a while,
| one soars by with a snake in beak. They also tussle with the
| local crows (who I assume are tying to snatch eggs).
| rdiddly wrote:
| This seems as good a time/place as any to remind everyone that
| the sound an eagle makes isn't the screech Hollywood has made you
| believe it is (that's a red-tailed hawk). It's actually
| relatively non-macho (for a superpower's mascot anyway) and
| sounds like it's laughing.
|
| The hawk says: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-
| tailed_Hawk/sounds
|
| The eagle says:
| https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/sounds
| WalterBright wrote:
| I wish hollywood would make a few more recordings. They always
| use exactly the same one, every time they have a long shot of a
| wilderness scene. Movies, TV shows, documentaries, everything.
|
| It's worse than the Wilhelm Scream.
| rdiddly wrote:
| Absolutely, I was already thinking Wilhelm Scream as I
| finally arrived at those words in your comment!
|
| Edit: What we need is a satirical movie full of in-jokes,
| like opening a wilderness long-shot with a Wilhelm Scream.
| smazga wrote:
| There's also a stock audio sound for police radio chatter
| that is the same as the one in SimCity 2000. Every time I
| hear that (which is too often) I can't help but think "well,
| you cheaped out on sound design"
| titzer wrote:
| I noticed that too! I thought I was going crazy until I
| started compiling a list of them...
|
| "We need a dispatchment 148...mumble mumble...ksshhh"
|
| [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dklA4-ACN4k
| Isamu wrote:
| Maybe unpopular, but I like the chuckling screech of the bald
| eagle. Also barn swallows, they kind of "talk" when they are
| relaxed.
| post_below wrote:
| As superpower mascots go, I think the eagle turned out to be
| pretty much perfect. Large, powerful, masters of their
| environment, noble from a distance. Up close, easily scared,
| shameless scavengers who love the opportunity to steal prey
| from other creatures.
|
| Note: No intention of starting a political conversation, as a
| resident of said superpower I just love the irony.
| kilroy123 wrote:
| I've seen one in the wild. Actually a beautiful animal.
| fermienrico wrote:
| As superpower mascots go, I think the eagle turned out to be
| pretty much perfect. Large, powerful, masters of their
| environment, noble from a distance. Up close, intelligent,
| optimally utilizing resources through scavenging, leaving
| nothing to waste and who love the opportunity to provide to
| their young ones and benefit other creatures through
| symbiosis.
|
| One can spin it whatever which way.
| systemvoltage wrote:
| If your intent wasn't to start a political flame war, what is
| the insight you're providing here?
|
| Every animal needs to survive and will do anything to get by
| including scavenging. That's nature. At this very moment,
| millions of things are getting eaten alive. Welcome to the
| brutality of Mother Nature.
|
| It's not very charitable to say something deeply provocative
| and putting a note to defend. It only reflects your
| prejudice.
| verall wrote:
| > Every animal needs to survive and will do anything to get
| by including scavenging.
|
| Yea, and so do nations. The descriptors they used feel
| conformable describing both the nation and the mascot. It's
| not deeply provocative. It is a comparison that is
| interesting to read, because it describes how nations and
| animals can act similarly, but on difference scales.
| seriousquestion wrote:
| TIL! What else is manufactured like this? Anyone know if a big
| list of examples exists?
| oblio wrote:
| The whole thing is a lie.
|
| The bald eagle screech is not that of the bald eagle.
|
| Plenty of eagle species are bald yet the "bald" eagle isn't
| bald.
|
| If you think about it, it's a fantastic metaphor for the US :-p
| partiallypro wrote:
| There are now bald eagles around here in Nashville. I have never
| seen one in the wild before until recently. It might not be a
| good thing, if I'm being honest.
| jjathman wrote:
| Is there any doubt that in today's political environment we never
| would be able to pull this same conservation effort off? We'd
| hear endless reports from Republicans about how DDT really isn't
| that bad, how scientists are lying, and how we couldn't possibly
| do anything to "hurt the economy".
| sparker72678 wrote:
| Nice to get some good news.
| [deleted]
| blacktriangle wrote:
| Not if you're a rabbit.
| Arrath wrote:
| Or small dog. I was at a campground in Alaska that had plenty
| of signs posted re: keeping your pets indoors. Well, someone
| chose to let their little poodle out of their RV and an eagle
| took a chance to have a snack.
|
| The aftermath looked like someone hit a feather pillow with a
| shotgun.
| dcanelhas wrote:
| How small a dog are we talking about? pug/chiuaua-sized?
| Not sure I understood what actually happened. Did the bird
| take the dog and leave some feathers behind? Did the dog
| shred the bird? Did the dog's owner shoot the bird with a
| shotgun?
| Arrath wrote:
| The dog wasn't more than 10-15 pounds, miniature french
| poodle looking thing. Sorry for being unclear, but the
| aftermath was all the fuzzy dog hair that got scattered
| everywhere from the impact. Dog was done for, owner
| didn't have time to react beyond scream and try to get
| the Park Ranger to "DO SOMETHING ABOUT THESE DANGEROUS
| BIRDS"
| dcanelhas wrote:
| I've heard of wolves being hunted using golden eagles in
| Mongolia, they're not much larger than a bald eagle.
|
| I wish the biohackers would bring back Haast's eagle.
| yosito wrote:
| I was just thinking this past weekend about how bald eagles are
| endangered and how it would be so cool to see one some day. I'm
| American, but I've spent very little of the last 10 years in the
| US. I was taught in grade school that bald eagles were endangered
| and I had no idea that they were making a comeback. Very cool!
| dcanelhas wrote:
| I felt compelled to voice my appreciation for the double-entendre
| of this title.
| umvi wrote:
| I would say the title is just using a plain old pun... "double
| entendre" usually implies there is a way to sexually interpret
| the phrase
| mikeg8 wrote:
| Bald eagle can also refer to a woman's shaved... aka
| Brazilian
| dcanelhas wrote:
| Oh, I didn't know that! I thought the expression simply meant
| double understanding/meaning.
| pwython wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_entendre
| [deleted]
| frabjoused wrote:
| I just got back from meeting some friends in Blaine, WA. Bald
| eagles hanging out everywhere.
| kaycebasques wrote:
| They became a somewhat common sight for me in Bremerton,
| Washington and I just saw one in Pittsburgh.
| ravieira wrote:
| I saw one earlier this year flying over a pond in Southwest
| Georgia where they seem to be rare. It is truly a beautiful bird!
| nxpnsv wrote:
| Is there a word for puns that are not jokes, like this title?
| thatwasunusual wrote:
| Some kind of irony here... /s
| elwell wrote:
| Relaxing work buddy to keep on your third monitor:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zE6qcgTox8
| alistairSH wrote:
| Video of video-equipment installation...
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cu4Motcpq5A
|
| Not just one random eagle enthusiast, but a whole team of
| volunteers.
| hermanoreis wrote:
| Gosh. Started reading the headline and thought: oh no, another
| NFT? Then I read the rest of the title. :) :)
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