On another note
February 6, 2010, 9:27 am
Posted by Joseph A. Komonchak
On TV last week my brother and I watched a fine show on bald eagles that included shots of their nests as they brooded eggs and then fed and protected the eaglets until they had matured and could fly on their own. I went looking and found a website where you can watch live a pair in West Virginia. Yesterday I noticed that there’s an egg which the pair of adults take turns keeping warm. Today I find the poor adult surrounded by a great deal of snow–one place in West Virginia has already received over thirty inches of snow, with hours more expected. In case you’re interested in watching and listening (sound effects, too!), here’s the website. It will take about two months for the eggs to hatch.
Here in Michigan, we’re seeing bald eagles again, and closer to people than they ever used to be, though they keep their nests in low-population areas. They will eat carrion, and on a trip Up North on a less-traveled highway, my son and I saw a big one by the side of the road eating part of dead deer. We pulled over and watched it until it flew off in the direction of the river. Then the crows, who’d been hanging back, moved in.
We’ve also seen coyotes and sandhill cranes just a mile down the road from us. Interesting for us, but a sign that the wild animals are losing habitat to come this close to people.
Jean–
Could it be they’re thriving so much in their natural habitat that they need to look elsewhere for food? We have that problem with deer in our area.
Random mis-reading: Jean, at first I thought you had written, “it flew off in the direction of the liver.”
What will the eagle do if the snow threatens to cover its head?
Kathy: The eagles take turns sitting on the egg. The snow has completely hidden the very large nest they’ve constructed. But I’m sure eagles have faced these challenges before…
I’ve often wondered if my personal increase in sightings of once rarer birds might be attributed to the banning of DDT. When I was a child many bird species were in a precipitous decline due to egg shell softening from DDT build up, mostly the predators. Could it be that some species are making a comeback? Or it is most likely a combination of habitat reduction/encroachment and population rebound.
Wonderful.
I once heard that to teach young eagles to fly, the mother puts the young on the crook of her wing and fly out of the nest. she slowly tips them until they fall off her wings and begin to flail. he mother watches and if they don’t quite make it flies underneath and allows them to settle back in her wing.
I always think of that when I hear “On Eagles Wings”.
I once came upon on an eagle by accident on a canoe. It was on the ground near the water. I startled it. It was very quiet and all i could hear was the whoosh of that wing span as it took flight. Very powerful.
PS
Bald eagles are monogamous. They remain faithful to each other until literally death does them part.
The poor eagle is now sitting on top of the snow, facing into the considerable wind. I presume it has the egg resting on its feet, keeping it warm tucked against its breast.
One should hope so.
According to weather.com, the snow is tapering off in the area. Perhaps the mate will come soon with a shovel and a thermos of spiked cocoa.
For a number of years, my wife has been involved with the raptor rehab center near here.
The beauty of our national bird captures our attention easily, bu tthe beauty of the raptor family from the smallest owl to the giant condor (in California) is of great worth (at our rehab center, the turkey vulture SOL -short on looks -is the star.)
The growth of development, as we keenly know in the sunbelt.obviouly effects habitat
Most folks here have learned through nature centers and rehab centers to live with the various critters who come through town, though keeping a wary eye on the occasional bear or mountain lion.
They are most careful of elk on the road and deer or antelope as well.
It’s taught early not to put out food for the big guys,. but many try to keep their bird feeders well stocked for the littlest juncos to the grosbeaks and flickers that come.
Strikes me that in reflecting on this, the need to be in balance with all of this is what’s both critical and helpful of understanding our interelationship with nature -something our Native American brethren seem to know better.
Here in the Florida panhandle we have an abundance of bald eagles. My son has a terrible time keeping his ornamental fish pond stocked as they think it is a cafeteria.
Mark, deer around are a huge problem. There are no predators except for people (and cars, and the cars don’t always win).
I’m not sure why eagles are back, but the sandhill cranes, which were once very rare and seemed on their way out have adapted to living closer to people. They’re still very shy, but you see them at a distance in fields early in the morning sometimes, usually in trios.
Menage a trois?
Eagles are making a remarkable comeback, and anything that cleans up roadkill is a plus for me. I’m not a hunter–a woodchuck here and there with a .22 at my uncle’s farm as a kid. I am too much of a wimp to kill much of anything now. But I’d gladly pay for others to go shoot all the damned Canada geese and a good portion of the white-tailed deer. I’ve read they are more numerous today than when Columbus landed.
I love raptors, all birds. Walking down the street in Flatbush yesterday in the afternoon I looked up into the sidewalk tree, maybe 20 feet up, and saw a northern goshawk, which is pretty large. Stared at me and I at him/her (I think it was “immature, as the guides put it). And I walked on. He won that staredown.
Owls are interesting in that you can get very close to them, but it is only when you stare directly at them that they spook. That’s my experience, and I’ve heard it said elsewhere.
Great Horned Owls are famous for nesting amid the snow, and I expect Bald Eagles can manage it. But it seems a stretch to see how the eggs can make it. Amazing. Bald eagles also return yearly to their nests, I believe, building them up a bit each time. Hence, they become huge, and trees sometimes topple.
Great Horned owls are said to tear the nest out from under adolescents so they leave. I prefer that idea.
Sadly, songbirds are still being terrible depleted, mainly due to habitat destruction. We used to have scarlet tanagers and Baltimore Orioles nesting in our suburban backyard in central Jersey when I was a kid. Amazing.
What is going on? I don’t see adults or eggs.
I’m wondering if the egg may have died. It would be very unusual for them to leave the egg unprotected in such cold weather with that wind you can hear blowing over the nest. They’ve dug deeply into the snow perhaps to protect themselves from the wind. An adult was there until about 15 years ago. Whether there’s an egg or not is almost impossible to tell–white against white.
I can’t see how it’d survive uncovered. I wonder if park rangers or whoever will remove it. I don’t know how early eagles usually lay (this seems very early) but other birds can quickly produce another egg if a nest is destroyed or something happens to the eggs. I don’t know if eagles can do such quick turnarounds, or if there is time.
The egg appeared only Thursday or Friday, and they sometimes lay two or three of them, so I would think there would still be time. Early February is the usual time for laying eggs.
I thought I’d posted this yesterday but don’t see it – just wanted to mention that there are eagles in Manhattan roo, at Inwood Park …. Inwood Park Eagle Watch …
Saturday, February 13, 2010
8:00 a.m.
Manhattan
Join us on a walk to the Hudson River as we look for bald eagles, which visit the city this time of year.
Now, at 5:35, both of the eagles are back and it looks like they’re trying to recreate their nest on top of the two or three feet of snow. So they haven’t given up hope.
Now, Monday 3:30 PM, I have just watched one of the eagles land back in the nest and start to chow down on what I think is a squirrel, first removing the fur. Fascinating. Not for the squeamish, I fear.
Yes, I watched a feast yesterday afternoon, and is that dark part at the “top” of the nest (from our frame) a carcass of something and effort to clear the snow?
I’ve never understood how they survived such cold.
I think that dark area near the top is the area that they seemed to be trying to clear of snow for the nest. In the extreme foreground, toward the left, there’s a camera. I wish there were a way to get the camera to zoom in closer.
The eagle seems to be setting on an egg (eggs?) again, spending a lot of time fussing with the nest, etc.