The bald eagle population has made a remarkable comeback. But the majestic symbol of American pride is turning out to be a nuisance, especially in Canada.

Flocks have been spotted along highways in the Pacific Northwest, feasting in a landfill in Vancouver. Earlier this year, a ravenous raptor stalked and killed a seagull in front of shocked onlookers at a busy Vancouver golf course.


Dignity, my fellow American eagles.
With an 8-foot wingspan and a distinctive snowy-white head, America’s national emblem conjures feelings of patriotism and reverence.

“You’re in awe every time you see one,” says Jeanine Pesce, who recently moved from New Jersey to British Columbia and now sees the raptors almost daily. “Their physicality and presence is so profound you feel a need to pay homage to them.”

But Ms. Pesce, who owns a consulting agency, has had to explain some National Geographic-worthy encounters to her 5-year-old daughter. “One day I watched an eagle drag a Canadian goose back and forth across rocks for hours,” she says. “I was told that’s how they tenderize their meat.”

It wasn’t long ago that birdwatchers considered the odds of a bald eagle sighting just this side of a unicorn sighting. Through conservation efforts and the banning of chemicals like DDT, the population recovered to numbers that warranted the bird’s removal from the endangered species list in 2007. A recent report from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department found that numbers have quadrupled to more than 316,000 in 2019, from 72,000 in 2009.


Stay back, bald eagle! A dog named Bindi wears a CoyoteVest at AK Bark pet shop in Anchorage.
PHOTO: AK BARK
Those numbers reflect populations only in the lower 48, notes Myles Lamont, a biologist with the Hancock Wildlife Foundation, a nonprofit in Surrey, British Columbia, that promotes the conservation of wildlife, particularly the bald eagle, and its habitat. “If you factor in the populations in Alaska and Canada you add at least another 150,000 or more birds.”

The spike in numbers has prompted joy among animal-lovers—and anxiety among others. Owners of small pets have outfitted little dogs and cats in spiked collars and armor-like vests to keep them from becoming bird food.

“Eagles are strong enough to carry a 12-pound salmon, so a four-pound dog is nothing,” says Mark Robokoff, owner of AK Bark pet shop in Anchorage. His shop sells CoyoteVest, a protective jacket covered in Kevlar and spikes, intended to protect small pets from coyotes. Mr. Robokoff immediately recognized its potential in a state with an estimated 30,000 bald eagles. The vest is topped with bright red nylon whiskers that he says scare off the birds from above.

Tom Abraham, a Nelson, British Columbia-based trip planner with active travel company Butterfield & Robinson, has had to worry about bald eagles stalking his lambs and his daughter’s chickens.

“We lost one [chicken] to an eagle last year,” he says. “I string flags overhead to create an obstacle. It gives the chickens more time to take cover.”

The birds can also make quite a mess. Maureen Gordon, manager of Maple Leaf Adventures, an ecotour company that runs trips in Alaska and British Columbia, says bald eagles love to perch in the masts of her company’s schooner. “Guests marvel, and the birds are stunning, but they’re also quite a hazard for our deck and sometimes our clients,” she says. “As soon as the birds fly, watch out below, because they poo.”


A bald eagle surveys the wetlands on a cold afternoon off north Douglas Island, Alaska.


Bald eagles aren’t the only birds of prey best admired from a distance.

Cinda Mickols recently had around 15 endangered California condors trash the back deck of her Tehachapi, Calif., home.

“I’m 68 and barely 5-foot-3, and these birds are enormous,” she says. “At first I was scared, but then I saw that they had pecked apart the cover of my hot tub. I started waving my cane and yelling, ‘The party is over’ until they flew away,” she says.

Ms. Mickols says she has no idea why the condors prefer her deck, but they come like clockwork at 6:30 p.m. “I joke that it’s cocktail hour,” she says. “Their poo stains the deck and I worry their talons have punctured my roof, but I can’t get mad because they need protection. And I’ve started to think of them as angels watching over me.”

She’s reached out to authorities and researchers to try to learn more about the birds so she can live alongside them. “I was told it’s OK to spray them with water,” she says.

Ms. Pesce in Vancouver says that while the bald eagles have provided her with a movie theater’s worth of entertainment in her backyard, they’ve also supplied her family with an education about the less glamorous side of the magnificent bird.

“It’s like watching the cycle of life happen,” she says. “And my takeaway is that I would not want to come back as an eagle. They may be at the top of the food chain, but they get no peace being followed around all day by seagulls and crows chasing their scraps.”


A bald eagle hangs out on the aptly named Eagle Beach State Recreation Area in Juneau, Alaska.
PHOTO: BECKY BOHRER/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Write to Jen Murphy at workout@wsj.com


LINK ; https://www.wsj.com/articles/b...5?mod=hp_featst_pos5

Story has some very nice pics.

A number of years ago our neighbor came over and asked if we ‘had’ a white cat. He said an eagle swooped down and carried her away. It doesn’t take eagle eyes to see a white cat in green grass.
Mike

Para's hungry ...

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Got a nest a mile and a half south of me.

I saw one grab a gold fish out of our lake yesterday. It was an odd sight to say the least.

We usually have to scan the nearby trees before we let our dog outside just to be safe.

Both Bald and Goldens are common sights in the Yoop.

I love watching them and we have several in my area. I took this picture less than a mile from my house.

Fresh Coot for breakfast!

There are many live cam eagle nests on youtube. We've been checking in on one that is just south of Pittsburgh, Pa. Three eaglets in the nest will fledge in about a month. Fascinating to watch, especially when food is delivered. Here's a link:

http://www.aswp.org/pages/hays-nest

Buddy saw one grab a neighbors full grown Chihuahua and fly off with it. Owner (woman) screaming all the while. No one ever saw the dog again.

See them up here often. I still marvel at them in flight. But when you've seen them dumpster diving in the Burger King parking lot, they kind of lose some of their majestic image.

Elmer Keith had some interesting stories about the bald eagle.

I'm in Ohio and they came back here about 5-6 years ago or more I think. My parents have a farm and the house overlooks a 2 acre pond. We were sitting there one evening eating dinner and an eagle began to circle the pond and all the sudden swooped down and nailed a frog. He stood there right on the bank and torn it apart and ate it. Pretty cool to see, especially around here as we haven't had eagles in my life time.

Circle of life and all that!

We have them in here in central Florida. They hunt fish from my lake. Bald eagles, ospreys, red shouldered hawks, Cooper's hawks, and a huge barred owl. It can be quite the show.

quote:

Earlier this year, a ravenous raptor stalked and killed a seagull in front of shocked onlookers at a busy Vancouver golf course.

Shocked? Why? This is what nature does. Get over it.

quote:

Originally posted by 229DAK:

quote:

Earlier this year, a ravenous raptor stalked and killed a seagull in front of shocked onlookers at a busy Vancouver golf course.

Shocked? Why?

Well, it's not very civilized, is it?



We've had raptors of one sort or another around here ever since Day 1. Pretty big ones, too. (No, I don't know what they are. My wife keeps calling them turkey vultures, but I don't believe that's what they are.) Had one of them think to take a shot at one of our cats a few years ago. Luckily my wife was right there and discouraged it.

We've occasionally seen one swoop in and nail a smaller bird from around our bird feeders, which is why we sometimes refer to the feeders as raptor feeders.

quote:

Originally posted by ArtieS:
We have them in here in central Florida. They hunt fish from my lake. Bald eagles, ospreys, red shouldered hawks, Cooper's hawks, and a huge barred owl. It can be quite the show.

Yes we have a similar situation and birds here, plus a Great Blue Heron that comes looking for dinner a few times a week. I can always tell when the raptors are around as the squirrels make themselves scarce. Nothing is more exciting that watching an osprey or eagle make a dive for fish. They are magnificent birds of prey.

I saw a road killed white tail the other day, she had 5 crows pecking on her. As I'm driving by all the crows take flight, a bald eagle lands.

It was funny, crows know better than to mess with a bald eagle.

I’m on the Missouri River and they are all over around here. When I’m working out at our Y there they are cruising the river.

One of our correctional officers had a little happy dog breed puppy yanked right off her deck by one.

They do make it hell to duck and goose hunt sometimes. If they are perched in a tree the ducks and geese are not getting up off the water.

Beautiful creatures.

I've seen them around here a couple of times, but out of town an outdoor cat doesn't last long before the owls get them.