[Rhodes22-list] Bald Eagles!

[Roger Pihlaja]

Paul,

Including yesterday, I've only seen bald eagles feeding in the wild twice.
The other time was in the summer of 1998 on Garden Island out in the middle
of northern Lake Michigan.  We were hiking along the beach, crested a sand
dune, & there was this immature bald eagle (didn't have a completely white
head yet), right at the water's edge, feeding on a double-crested cormorant.
>From the blood on the ground & on the eagle, the kill was obviously quite
fresh.  Apparently, this eagle had a taste for cormorants because there were
several shredded carcasses along the beach within a 1/4 mile of that spot.
The eagle looked & sounded highly annoyed when we interupted its meal (gave
us the big raptor evil eye & scrack!), but it flew off as soon as it saw us.

My North American Wildlife Field Guide says bald eagles eat carrion,
waterfowl, & especially fish.  The bird absolutely looks & acts like a
perfect killing machine.  Those ducks yesterday never had a chance.  Each
eagle simply selected one, harvested it, & flew away with it.  But, I
suppose if there's a dead body available that one doesn't have to expend
energy to chase down; then, why not go for the easy meal?

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Grandholm" <paul@mi.chtechnology.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Bald Eagles!


> Roger,
>
>      Very interesting message.  Thanks for sharing.  Carol & I took an
> Alaska cruise a couple of years ago where there is a plethora of bald
> eagles.  When we were in Ketchikan we visited a sanctuary where they take
> in injured eagles and nurse them back to health.  There we were told that
> bald eagles are actually scavengers and avoid hunting live prey if
> possible.  Now I'm confused.  Do you have any thoughts on this?
>
> Paul
> >
> >Roger,
> >
> >Eagles are pretty amazing creatures. We have quite a few of them around
> >here, so we get to watch them in action quite regularly. It really sucks
to
> >be the duck, or whatever they've decided is for lunch though. Their aim
is
> >pretty deadly. Many times we have watched eagles swoop down and pluck
fish
> >right out of the water and never get more than their feet wet. It's good
to
> >see they're coming back after a close call with extinction.
> >
> >Rik
> >
> >
> >At 04:36 PM 2/4/2003 -0500, you wrote:
> >>Hi Everybody,
> >>
> >>I was sitting here at my computer working on some internet job searches
> >>when I looked out my window just in time to see a mature male bald eagle
> >>land in the tree right above my dock!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I've
> >>lived on Sanford Lake since 1977 & have never seen a bald eagle here
until
> >>now.  I jumped up to go get my 35 mm camera.  I got back just in time to
> >>see a female bald eagle join this male (a nesting pair perhaps?!?).  The
> >>female eagle didn't land in the tree.  Instead, she began diving on a
> >>flock of about 12 bufflehead ducks, which were in the water feeding on
the
> >>sandbar about 100 yards off our beach.  The male eagle joined her & you
> >>should have seen the ducks scatter in all directions!  My 35 mm camera
> >>takes several seconds to boot up from a cold start.  By the time the
> >>camera was ready to shoot, the action had moved off down the lake out of
> >>range.  I went out on our deck with my binoculars & saw both eagles
snare
> >>ducks in their talons in mid flight!  They both flew off with a duck in
> >>their talons in same southerly direction down the lake!  It was totally
cool.
> >>
> >>Roger Pihlaja
> >>S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
> >>_________________________________________________
> >>Use Rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org, Help? www.rhodes22.org/list
> >
> >_________________________________________________
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>
>
>
> ========================
> Paul Grandholm
> C&H Technology
> GrandPower Components Div.
> ========================
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>
>