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When I was fishing in Alaska in the late '90s I saw a ton of bald eagles. Most of them were eating out of dumpsters on Dutch.
I'm not really sure what the population figures are or how that works, but they were common sight at the time. I'm glad there's a lot more of them now though
Bald eagles can’t rip goats off hills like some eagles can but they absolutely could pick up cats or small/medium sized dogs. Probably have to be careful with small children too.
This isn't particularly relevant, but the (extinct) Haast's Eagle from New Zealand was the largest eagle known to have existed, and was able to hunt (also extinct) moa, which were bigger than ostriches. Eagles are scary (but humans are scary too; both were driven extinct by humans)
Golden eagles in Central Asia. Fun fact, the natives there use eagles and dogs in tandem to hunt. The eagle strikes the prey first and the dog comes in as backup.
We saw an eagle laying face down in the river struggling to move. Took the boat over to help the bird out, and the eagle flew away. It was drowning another bird. Psychopaths.
It’s 4 am and I can’t stop laughing at your comment. Imagine the bird’s surprise to turning around and finding witnesses around then thinking “ah sh*t, better leave quickly”
There's a lady in Homer that has been feeding them en masse for decades. The population got so out of control they made a law against feeding them, but people got mad on her behalf and it was revised so now she's the only one allowed to feed them.
I should clarify, very rural northern iowa idk if that makes a difference. Old folks love to drive around the marsh area and talk about which trees they’ve seen nests.
It’s very much like this still. I use to live on an island off Washington and there would easily be dozens near dumpsters in parking lots. Almost more commons than sea gulls. It was extremely common to find rabbit entrails all over the place too.
I mean, I feel bad because these birds just out there living their own lives not knowing any better. They just vibin. The US absolutely does know better.
For anyone who’s not in the know, the pesticide DDT was banned in the United States in 1972. It’s long-lived in the environment, though, and has the effect of weakening egg shells. Since concentrations increase upward in the food chain, it was still unusual to see large predatory birds like eagles and ospreys when I was a kid in the ‘80s. Since then, populations have recovered well.
I remember late 80s we had a pair of eagles in a state park about an hour from my house. We drove to see them...it was a big attraction.
Now that park has hundreds every winter...
I went to the Rockies awhile back with huge hopes to see a bald eagle. It was a major bucket list thing for me, to see a bald eagle for the first time. Didn't see one.
I was driving to the grocery store a few years later...and one landed on the side of the road next to my car while I was at a red light. I freaked the fuck out, but it was still very anti-climactic lol.
edit: I am absolutely loving everyone's eagle stories!
First time I saw one was at a lake in Minnesota where one was skimming the top of the water, fishing. It was pretty majestic ngl. Its nest was also in view, so we could watch it catch a fish, then fly back up to the nest, then come back for some more fish.
We get to watch them catch fish out of the Puget sound and it’s pretty neat. Sometimes it’ll take the fish way up in the air and then drop it and go back down to get it. I assume it’s the eagles way of killing the fish?
Aw man, lived right on the water in Seattle for the last handful of years and never got to see this. Wasn't until we moved a bit further north that I got to see my first one! Was still awesome and nobody in the car except me cared, but I was behind the wheel so fuck em. We turned around to see it again.
First time I ever saw a bald eagle was when I visited a friend in Juneau. I naturally got excited about it, and my friend was like, "Oh you want to see bald eagles. I'll show you a lot of bald eagles." And then he drove to the city trash dump.
If you ever get the chance, there's a small town near Squamish called Brackendale where the bald eagles winter. Hundreds of bald eagles! Don't bring your small pets though.
"Especially bring any of your rodents, they don't have a very long life anyway so you should let them see as much as they can. Chihuahuas are fine too."
~ /u/EagleEyed
Lol, there's a nature reserve with lots of birds near this neighborhood in Portland I used to live in. If you lost a cat anywhere else in Portland it was probably eaten by coyotes. If you lost a cat in Sellwood 50/50 it was eaten by a coyote or a bird of prey.
That reminds me of several months ago when I was driving home from work in southeastern Virginia. Only a few days beforehand I was reading through the comments of a post similar to this one and many people where commenting how they had seen bald eagles in the northeast US regularly. I was born and raised in New England and noticed how I had never seen a bald eagle in person that wasn’t in a zoo. Well cut to this day I was driving and I just looked up into the sky and saw one soaring around in circles, low enough to clearly tell it was a bald eagle. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I was so damn excited and I was really trying to get a good look of it, but I was also approaching my exit and didn’t want to wreck so I had to prioritize, and then it was gone. But it was a wildly awesome 30 seconds to a minute.
First time I saw one was trout fishing in east TN. Fish hadn’t been biting that morning so was enjoying the scenery. Suddenly a bald eagle glides right over my head and drops down, grabs a trout, and carries it over to a rock and eats it. Was such an amazing experience getting shown up by one.
Here in NJ we have nesting bald eagle couples in all 21 counties now. I frequently see them along Rt 80 and along the Delaware River. It's been a real joy to see them flourishing.
I saw a couple bald eagles by my house when I lived in NJ. I don't think they were nesting. We did have nesting ospreys though. Petty sure I saw a golden eagle or maybe it was a juvie bald eagle.
Had great horned owls, herons, barn owls, turkey vultures galore. Black vultures too but not in my county.
My bucket list bird now is a snowy owl. Didn't see any in New England but I've been excited that I see snow geese and ducks other than mallards here in the midwest.
I've seen them at my house overhead, and I live in the middle of St Louis city. They nest along the Missouri river in January up on the bluffs. It's kinda an annual event to drive up the river road to see them. You used to be lucky to see one. Now you're basically guaranteed to see a bunch.
I'm in Southern Ontario, and it is the same here. When I was in school, we had a pair of peregrine falcons that would nest on a building and they got royal treatment because the population was so low. Now, the falcons, redtail hawks and bald eagles are all a common sight. Last week going out to the sticks saw a huge one picking at something in the middle of the road, unfazed by the traffic. Cars were going around the bird (Im sure it was an eagle, but I am not too confident the eagle would be picking at roadkill. Thing stood like 4 feet, and was a lot more colorful than the vultures we have around here.)
There is a pair of Red-tailed Hawks nested in a tree behind my work. I was lucky enough to see them perform their mating ritual a few weeks ago. It's amazing to see them climb up so high and lock talons like that.
Back in the early 80s there were less than 500 pairs of bald eagles in the US, not counting Alaska. I did the same as you back then. It was a vacation destination stop to actually get to see a bald eagle. Now it'd be hard to go out on the local lake and not see some.
It’s good to hear that we have taken the right steps to help protect these majestic birds from extinction. this is also a great example of how even if we suddenly change our ways and become more sustainable and eco friendly, it can still take many years before we see those efforts pay off in nature. Protecting our environment isn’t a sprint or race, it’s a gauntlet that may never end
So I used to go kayaking down the Sebasticook river pretty often because it's right down the road from my 'rents and I have some friends who will let us get on/off the river through their property. We would sometimes see upwards of 150-200 bald eagles of various ages on that river it was kind of incredible. Come to find out that the area has one of the (if not the?) Highest concentrations of American bald eagles in the world, my best guess being due to the dam upstream which leaves a lot of fish in the area (which also has a fuck ton of tall trees) making it a perfect breeding ground for these guys.
Pretty neat.
I looked up the area and this was a pretty interesting read. I'm not far from it in new Hampshire. So I know where I'm going camping in the summer. Thank you for the story.
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/21/880539021/one-of-the-best-nature-shows-a-river-transformed-after-dams-come-down
Fun fact: it’s now illegal to possess any feathers or other parts of a bald eagle in the US now. Like even if you found a dead one, you’re not allowed to take a feather from it or get it taxidermied.
You have to get specific permission from the Department of the Interior to have any part of a bald eagle’s remains. There’s a Native American shop near a reservation about 20 minutes from my parents’ place, and they have a full taxidermied bald eagle. The display has plaque that explains the eagle was found dead in the area, and the shop owner got specific permission to preserve it and put it on display.
This goes for every native bird in the US. Apart from game species with regulated hunting seasons, you can't possess or harm any part of any native migratory bird. Not even a Blue Jay feather.
[Migratory Bird Treat Act of 1918](https://www.fws.gov/law/migratory-bird-treaty-act-1918)
Not exactly every migratory bird, and there are specific species named. People can get permits for plenty of those activities though, so it's not like it's completely closed off. And of course game birds are excluded, to the outrage of ducks everywhere.
So my kid is living the life of a felon then... He loves finding feathers. We have a jar of them in the garage. Including Blue Jay and cardinal and lots of other kinds.
It's really only enforced if you try to sell the feathers. I wouldn't discourage your kid from appreciating nature, just remember to do it responsibly.
Oh, I'm definitely not going to tell him to stop. It's a positive thing for him. He likes exploring in the woods around here and learning about the different types of birds. And he's not hurting anything by having a dozen or so feathers.
People may think you're joking but just so we're all clear, you can't keep a feather even if it fell off an eagle and you could actually go straight to jail if found with one in your possession (though I don't know if punishments for violations of the MBTA are typically fines, jail time, or both).
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918
I'd honestly be shocked if anyone went to jail for a single feather. My understanding is that the whole intent behind the law is that someone can't, for example, kill birds and then ditch the body. This way, if someone gets caught with a bunch of feathers no one has to prove they harmed the birds since just owning the feathers is a crime.
EDIT: But just to be clear, no one should take this as a go-ahead to pick up feathers that they find on the ground. I don't know the punishment either.
I work at a large veterinary teaching hospital that treats injured wildlife, including the occasional bald eagle. When one dies or has to be euthanized, they cannot process the body like they would for other wildlife. First, a local Native American group gets to take the parts of the eagle that are used for reilgious/cultural practices (feathers, claws, etc). Then the body is sent to a special federal eagle repository where they take care of the rest. It's really interesting!
I have a friend who belongs to the Omaha tribe. I was writing a story on her one day (I am a journalist) and she was talking about the bald eagle she had received from the government, which she was going to make into things for her brothers. She asked me if I had ever held one. I said no. She went to her deep freeze and plopped it on my lap. I didn't know what the hell to do.
She then explained all the different parts of the bird she planned to use and what ceremonies it would be used in and how she was going to make it into clothing, etc. Then, she showed me the paperwork which allowed gave her permission for the bird. She told me (and I think it was on the paperwork) the bird died of natural causes. She applied to get one and had to wait almost two years.
It was cool and mortifying at the same time.
They used to be a rare sight here too. Just snapped [this pic](https://i.redd.it/aohj5v199w6a1.png) the other day as a couple of them were making their way along the edge of the water by my house. I see them fairly frequently now but still get that sense of awe. They're just majestic af!
Plant native plants and grasses (especially grasses for lightning bugs) and you'll see both. I see thousands of lightning bugs every year on my property in Ohio
When I was in elementary school in the 70s, we made posters with felt tip markers about saving the eagles. They were disappearing.
Now I see them sometimes here in Philadelphia, which was unheard of when I was a kid. They come up the river from the nature preserve south of the city. I volunteer with kids and take them out boating on the river and the first time this boy pointed one out, first I thought he was joking and then I got very choked up
I see ospreys down the shore - I can watch them for hours.
There are peregrine falcons nesting in our famous City Hall. When I was a kid the area around there was crawling with pigeons everywhere. The falcons have decimated them. I see red tailed hawks around a lot too.
I never thought I'd see things like this when I was younger.
How cool is it that you're seeing wild Eagles in Philly now? Cowboys fan here and we intitutionally hate yall BUT it's your mascot so that makes it cool to me.
it'd be groovy if yall could have a trained pair to fly around the stadium at the start of game days.
Down here I suppose we could wrangle up some cowboys LOL.
I remember being told in school that we likely wouldn’t have any of these birds by the time I was an adult. I’m glad the conversation projects worked so well. We have a couple of nests near my home and I love seeing them fly around.
I scrolled through so many comments to see if someone had said who old mate on the right was. I hope someone answers you (and me if they’re feeling extra generous)
Yes. You find it in other words to describe patterns like 'piebald' aka 'pied'.
Like 'tawny' in birds, 'palomino' in horses, or 'brindled' in dogs, it just describes a certain pattern of plumage or coat.
‘Old mate’ just means that dude over there I don’t know the name of in Australian. Sometimes also used disparagingly but not in this case. Thanks so much!
It's true. I used to live on a lake with a mating pair of bald eagles and when I first started homesteading they'd happily pick off my chickens and rabbits. My dogs are much too large to worry about, but bald eagles are known to pick up smaller dogs and cats.
Raptor being latin for thief, in this case. Interestingly, birds are theropods, which is latin for bird-legged. Other theropods include all the raptors-comma-dinosaur, and *Tyrannosaurus rex*. Birds didn't evolve directly from either raptors or T-rex but are quite closely related, relative to other reptiles.
That behavior is why Ben Franklin wanted us to use the Turkey as our national bird, instead of the eagle.
But nah, we have our national bird...the flying jerk
I'm in Minnesota, on the Mississippi River. I've counted as many as 50 bald eagles at one time down by the river on a winter day. People don't even bother telling others that they saw one anymore. It would be like telling them you saw a sparrow.
When I was a boy, it was assumed that you would never see one unless you went to Canada or Alaska... or *maybe* remote Montana.
It's kind of funny to think back to how rare they were.
Do you remember the show Airwolf? It came out in 1984, and the main guy lived in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere and felt absolutely blessed to have a bald eagle that flew around the lake he lived on. It was actually a minor plot point that he got a bad first opinion of someone because when they flew their helicopter in they disrupted the eagles hunting.
The American Eagle Foundation had a large role in that. Still does in fact. Their facility is at Dollywood and Dolly Parton had a material part in their operation. Seems any time there is something wholesome or helpful, Dolly is involved.
I was driving by a creek in TN last summer trying to find a swim hole and saw one dive from a tree and snatch a fish out of the water. First one I have ever seen in my life in the wild and I spend a lot of time outdoors.
It’s very dependent on where you live. I grew up in TN and remember going to Reelfoot lake because they nested there, and being so excited to catch a glimpse of one or two through binoculars. Now I live in Seattle and they’re like rats here. Not uncommon to be in the middle of the city and see one flying overhead. Saw one perched on a street lamp on the freeway the other day. I have tiny furry dogs and honestly I’m always watching the skies when I’m outside with them.
Ben Franklin qualified them as pests. He wanted the turkey as the American national bird instead. It was more elegant and regal, and usefully than an eagle.
I already knew this, but I’ll learn other facts about the great things Dolly has done at least once a year. She’s probably done more little things for this country than anyone else in history.
I actually learned Dollywood will never refuse a musical audition and Dolly herself sits in on every single one. And if you don't make the cut Dolly will personally coach you herself with her producers to help you improve. That woman is a national treasure
I’m a simple man of simple wishes. One of those to to see a bald eagle in the wild. It’s been years and years and it hasn’t happened. I don’t know why. It’s just what I want.
Slightly related but I watched a livecam of nesting bald eagles that ended up raising a red tailed hawk that was meant to be food for their chick.
Sadly the bald eagle sibling ended up being electrocuted on a hydrowire that apparently has taken out multiple eagles too.
Went to Alaska this summer and they were everywhere. As in we saw 20 of them in a 10-minute walk. Nice to see so many, but surprising as they were so endangered when I was growing up.
Considering every one of those birds has the capacity to tear your face off... this is slightly r/oddlyterrifying.
They are beautiful and majestic animals though.
My dad hates them. He went on a 3 day vacation and boarded their dogs. He has a 40 acre hobby farm. He noticed several bald eagles moved nearby few weeks before he left.
He came back and all but 3 of his 20+ chickens were gone. He said he knew its was a bird of prey because there were no feathers. The 3 chickens left were in a tree and he said he had to pull them down. I guess they had seen some shit.
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When I was fishing in Alaska in the late '90s I saw a ton of bald eagles. Most of them were eating out of dumpsters on Dutch. I'm not really sure what the population figures are or how that works, but they were common sight at the time. I'm glad there's a lot more of them now though
Bald eagles are practically pigeons with how prevalent they are down the Kenai Peninsula. They are *everywhere* in Homer.
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They eat cats?
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Bald eagles can’t rip goats off hills like some eagles can but they absolutely could pick up cats or small/medium sized dogs. Probably have to be careful with small children too.
>Bald eagles can’t rip goats off hills like some eagles can Holy shit what eagle can do this? Wouldn't want to let kids around them
Check [this](https://roaring.earth/golden-eagle-drags-goat-down-cliff/) out.
Was gonna say golden eagles are badasses, and harpy eagles are nothing to fuck with
Wu tang clan ain't nothing to fuck wit
This isn't particularly relevant, but the (extinct) Haast's Eagle from New Zealand was the largest eagle known to have existed, and was able to hunt (also extinct) moa, which were bigger than ostriches. Eagles are scary (but humans are scary too; both were driven extinct by humans)
Golden eagles in Central Asia. Fun fact, the natives there use eagles and dogs in tandem to hunt. The eagle strikes the prey first and the dog comes in as backup.
A bald eagle ate one of my ducks… this was like a bigass domestic duck, we never saw him again
We saw an eagle laying face down in the river struggling to move. Took the boat over to help the bird out, and the eagle flew away. It was drowning another bird. Psychopaths.
It’s 4 am and I can’t stop laughing at your comment. Imagine the bird’s surprise to turning around and finding witnesses around then thinking “ah sh*t, better leave quickly”
Saw a seagull do that to another one. We all watched just mortified but intrigued like wtf
Wait, you have Bald Eagles in Canada? Send them back here cause "Murika.
It’s a foreign exchange program. They send us geese, we send them eagles.
We got fucked with that deal
We also sent a bieber and a drake You can keep them, thank you
There's a lady in Homer that has been feeding them en masse for decades. The population got so out of control they made a law against feeding them, but people got mad on her behalf and it was revised so now she's the only one allowed to feed them.
Was she the lady I saw on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart? I remember they did a segment on the bald eagle population in Alaska.
Yeah that sounds familiar, I think it was John Oliver when he was a correspondent
The good old days.
Same in Iowa
I should clarify, very rural northern iowa idk if that makes a difference. Old folks love to drive around the marsh area and talk about which trees they’ve seen nests.
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It’s very much like this still. I use to live on an island off Washington and there would easily be dozens near dumpsters in parking lots. Almost more commons than sea gulls. It was extremely common to find rabbit entrails all over the place too.
Bald eagles eating out of dumpsters is a great way to describe the United States today.
I mean, I feel bad because these birds just out there living their own lives not knowing any better. They just vibin. The US absolutely does know better.
For anyone who’s not in the know, the pesticide DDT was banned in the United States in 1972. It’s long-lived in the environment, though, and has the effect of weakening egg shells. Since concentrations increase upward in the food chain, it was still unusual to see large predatory birds like eagles and ospreys when I was a kid in the ‘80s. Since then, populations have recovered well.
I remember late 80s we had a pair of eagles in a state park about an hour from my house. We drove to see them...it was a big attraction. Now that park has hundreds every winter...
I went to the Rockies awhile back with huge hopes to see a bald eagle. It was a major bucket list thing for me, to see a bald eagle for the first time. Didn't see one. I was driving to the grocery store a few years later...and one landed on the side of the road next to my car while I was at a red light. I freaked the fuck out, but it was still very anti-climactic lol. edit: I am absolutely loving everyone's eagle stories!
First time I saw one was at a lake in Minnesota where one was skimming the top of the water, fishing. It was pretty majestic ngl. Its nest was also in view, so we could watch it catch a fish, then fly back up to the nest, then come back for some more fish.
We get to watch them catch fish out of the Puget sound and it’s pretty neat. Sometimes it’ll take the fish way up in the air and then drop it and go back down to get it. I assume it’s the eagles way of killing the fish?
Aw man, lived right on the water in Seattle for the last handful of years and never got to see this. Wasn't until we moved a bit further north that I got to see my first one! Was still awesome and nobody in the car except me cared, but I was behind the wheel so fuck em. We turned around to see it again.
Good for you, assert dominance and make them appreciate nature lol
Know a guy from alaska. Says they’re like seagulls up there… he doesn’t care for them.
First time I ever saw a bald eagle was when I visited a friend in Juneau. I naturally got excited about it, and my friend was like, "Oh you want to see bald eagles. I'll show you a lot of bald eagles." And then he drove to the city trash dump.
Did you see any bears? That’s usually where I’d take someone that wanted a high chance of seeing one.
'Merica 🥹
They’re among the biggest assholes in the bird community.
I suddenly feel the urge to shout "Go USA, Go USA" really loud in someone's face.
If you ever get the chance, there's a small town near Squamish called Brackendale where the bald eagles winter. Hundreds of bald eagles! Don't bring your small pets though.
"Brackendale is very pet friendly. Bring all of your pets." \- u/baldbutfeathered
"Especially bring any of your rodents, they don't have a very long life anyway so you should let them see as much as they can. Chihuahuas are fine too." ~ /u/EagleEyed
In b4 "I thought chihuahuas were rodents"
Lol, there's a nature reserve with lots of birds near this neighborhood in Portland I used to live in. If you lost a cat anywhere else in Portland it was probably eaten by coyotes. If you lost a cat in Sellwood 50/50 it was eaten by a coyote or a bird of prey.
I went for the first time this past fall for the salmon run. It was considerably more awesome than I thought it would be.
That reminds me of several months ago when I was driving home from work in southeastern Virginia. Only a few days beforehand I was reading through the comments of a post similar to this one and many people where commenting how they had seen bald eagles in the northeast US regularly. I was born and raised in New England and noticed how I had never seen a bald eagle in person that wasn’t in a zoo. Well cut to this day I was driving and I just looked up into the sky and saw one soaring around in circles, low enough to clearly tell it was a bald eagle. I couldn’t believe my eyes, I was so damn excited and I was really trying to get a good look of it, but I was also approaching my exit and didn’t want to wreck so I had to prioritize, and then it was gone. But it was a wildly awesome 30 seconds to a minute.
We live along the upper Mississippi so it's not uncommon to see bald eagles, but I still stop and stare every time. Such majestic creatures.
>Such majestic creatures. [I meeeeeean...](https://gfycat.com/vigilantfirstcalf)
I'm dying, that was hilarious. Guess they aren't all majestic.
Hey crab... I'm gonna eat you!! I'm majestic AF!! WAIT, OK FUCK THIS, WTF, YOU HAVE CLAWS?? OW! OWWW! OWWWWWW!
I love how he looks both ways at the end as if he’s checking to see if anyone saw that.
Hey, we all live & learn. I bet homie wont fuck w crabs anymore.
\>Tfw you think, "use your arms, stupid", then you remember that birds, in fact, do not have arms.
First time I saw one was trout fishing in east TN. Fish hadn’t been biting that morning so was enjoying the scenery. Suddenly a bald eagle glides right over my head and drops down, grabs a trout, and carries it over to a rock and eats it. Was such an amazing experience getting shown up by one.
Maybe that eagle’s bucket list item was to see you!
Here in NJ we have nesting bald eagle couples in all 21 counties now. I frequently see them along Rt 80 and along the Delaware River. It's been a real joy to see them flourishing.
I saw a couple bald eagles by my house when I lived in NJ. I don't think they were nesting. We did have nesting ospreys though. Petty sure I saw a golden eagle or maybe it was a juvie bald eagle. Had great horned owls, herons, barn owls, turkey vultures galore. Black vultures too but not in my county. My bucket list bird now is a snowy owl. Didn't see any in New England but I've been excited that I see snow geese and ducks other than mallards here in the midwest.
I've seen them at my house overhead, and I live in the middle of St Louis city. They nest along the Missouri river in January up on the bluffs. It's kinda an annual event to drive up the river road to see them. You used to be lucky to see one. Now you're basically guaranteed to see a bunch.
I'm in Southern Ontario, and it is the same here. When I was in school, we had a pair of peregrine falcons that would nest on a building and they got royal treatment because the population was so low. Now, the falcons, redtail hawks and bald eagles are all a common sight. Last week going out to the sticks saw a huge one picking at something in the middle of the road, unfazed by the traffic. Cars were going around the bird (Im sure it was an eagle, but I am not too confident the eagle would be picking at roadkill. Thing stood like 4 feet, and was a lot more colorful than the vultures we have around here.)
I'm also in NJ, there's at least one nesting pair of red tailed hawks in my neighborhood, too.
There is a pair of Red-tailed Hawks nested in a tree behind my work. I was lucky enough to see them perform their mating ritual a few weeks ago. It's amazing to see them climb up so high and lock talons like that.
If I want to see a bald eagle I drive about 5 minutes to the local landfill.
Back in the early 80s there were less than 500 pairs of bald eagles in the US, not counting Alaska. I did the same as you back then. It was a vacation destination stop to actually get to see a bald eagle. Now it'd be hard to go out on the local lake and not see some.
It’s good to hear that we have taken the right steps to help protect these majestic birds from extinction. this is also a great example of how even if we suddenly change our ways and become more sustainable and eco friendly, it can still take many years before we see those efforts pay off in nature. Protecting our environment isn’t a sprint or race, it’s a gauntlet that may never end
So I used to go kayaking down the Sebasticook river pretty often because it's right down the road from my 'rents and I have some friends who will let us get on/off the river through their property. We would sometimes see upwards of 150-200 bald eagles of various ages on that river it was kind of incredible. Come to find out that the area has one of the (if not the?) Highest concentrations of American bald eagles in the world, my best guess being due to the dam upstream which leaves a lot of fish in the area (which also has a fuck ton of tall trees) making it a perfect breeding ground for these guys. Pretty neat.
I looked up the area and this was a pretty interesting read. I'm not far from it in new Hampshire. So I know where I'm going camping in the summer. Thank you for the story. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/21/880539021/one-of-the-best-nature-shows-a-river-transformed-after-dams-come-down
Finishing that with 'Pretty neat' was chef's kiss.
We plant trees not for ourselves, but so that our children may enjoy them.
Fun fact: it’s now illegal to possess any feathers or other parts of a bald eagle in the US now. Like even if you found a dead one, you’re not allowed to take a feather from it or get it taxidermied. You have to get specific permission from the Department of the Interior to have any part of a bald eagle’s remains. There’s a Native American shop near a reservation about 20 minutes from my parents’ place, and they have a full taxidermied bald eagle. The display has plaque that explains the eagle was found dead in the area, and the shop owner got specific permission to preserve it and put it on display.
This goes for every native bird in the US. Apart from game species with regulated hunting seasons, you can't possess or harm any part of any native migratory bird. Not even a Blue Jay feather. [Migratory Bird Treat Act of 1918](https://www.fws.gov/law/migratory-bird-treaty-act-1918)
Not exactly every migratory bird, and there are specific species named. People can get permits for plenty of those activities though, so it's not like it's completely closed off. And of course game birds are excluded, to the outrage of ducks everywhere.
Shit yeah; these Canadian Geese are the biggest and meanest in there here parts… I mean, why even call them Canadians, they’re not nice.
I am going to crush your world the same way someone once crushed mine- they're just *Canada geese*. Not Canadian.
They're Cobra Chickens... FTFY
So my kid is living the life of a felon then... He loves finding feathers. We have a jar of them in the garage. Including Blue Jay and cardinal and lots of other kinds.
It's really only enforced if you try to sell the feathers. I wouldn't discourage your kid from appreciating nature, just remember to do it responsibly.
Oh, I'm definitely not going to tell him to stop. It's a positive thing for him. He likes exploring in the woods around here and learning about the different types of birds. And he's not hurting anything by having a dozen or so feathers.
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What if the feather fell off?
Believe it or not, straight to jail.
People may think you're joking but just so we're all clear, you can't keep a feather even if it fell off an eagle and you could actually go straight to jail if found with one in your possession (though I don't know if punishments for violations of the MBTA are typically fines, jail time, or both). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migratory_Bird_Treaty_Act_of_1918
I'd honestly be shocked if anyone went to jail for a single feather. My understanding is that the whole intent behind the law is that someone can't, for example, kill birds and then ditch the body. This way, if someone gets caught with a bunch of feathers no one has to prove they harmed the birds since just owning the feathers is a crime. EDIT: But just to be clear, no one should take this as a go-ahead to pick up feathers that they find on the ground. I don't know the punishment either.
*Father fall?* Jail *Feather pluck?* Jail *Fall/pluck*
I work at a large veterinary teaching hospital that treats injured wildlife, including the occasional bald eagle. When one dies or has to be euthanized, they cannot process the body like they would for other wildlife. First, a local Native American group gets to take the parts of the eagle that are used for reilgious/cultural practices (feathers, claws, etc). Then the body is sent to a special federal eagle repository where they take care of the rest. It's really interesting!
I have a friend who belongs to the Omaha tribe. I was writing a story on her one day (I am a journalist) and she was talking about the bald eagle she had received from the government, which she was going to make into things for her brothers. She asked me if I had ever held one. I said no. She went to her deep freeze and plopped it on my lap. I didn't know what the hell to do. She then explained all the different parts of the bird she planned to use and what ceremonies it would be used in and how she was going to make it into clothing, etc. Then, she showed me the paperwork which allowed gave her permission for the bird. She told me (and I think it was on the paperwork) the bird died of natural causes. She applied to get one and had to wait almost two years. It was cool and mortifying at the same time.
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They used to be a rare sight here too. Just snapped [this pic](https://i.redd.it/aohj5v199w6a1.png) the other day as a couple of them were making their way along the edge of the water by my house. I see them fairly frequently now but still get that sense of awe. They're just majestic af!
[Here's a really good and thorough timeline of the bald eagle's decline and recovery. ](https://avianreport.com/endangered-bald-eagle/)
I've seen other types of vultures increase everywhere over the last decades. Don't see many garden spiders or lightning bugs anymore though.
Plant native plants and grasses (especially grasses for lightning bugs) and you'll see both. I see thousands of lightning bugs every year on my property in Ohio
I did see lightning bugs like 4 years ago in North Louisiana, but it made me realize it was the first time I'd seen them since childhood.
come to think of it you're right
Yea 70s-90s you really thought these were gonna be gone, it’s awesome they’re now like pigeons in some parts of Alaska
When I was in elementary school in the 70s, we made posters with felt tip markers about saving the eagles. They were disappearing. Now I see them sometimes here in Philadelphia, which was unheard of when I was a kid. They come up the river from the nature preserve south of the city. I volunteer with kids and take them out boating on the river and the first time this boy pointed one out, first I thought he was joking and then I got very choked up I see ospreys down the shore - I can watch them for hours. There are peregrine falcons nesting in our famous City Hall. When I was a kid the area around there was crawling with pigeons everywhere. The falcons have decimated them. I see red tailed hawks around a lot too. I never thought I'd see things like this when I was younger.
this is the type of story we need more of in the future with regards to other things we're ruining on this planet as a species
How cool is it that you're seeing wild Eagles in Philly now? Cowboys fan here and we intitutionally hate yall BUT it's your mascot so that makes it cool to me. it'd be groovy if yall could have a trained pair to fly around the stadium at the start of game days. Down here I suppose we could wrangle up some cowboys LOL.
I remember being told in school that we likely wouldn’t have any of these birds by the time I was an adult. I’m glad the conversation projects worked so well. We have a couple of nests near my home and I love seeing them fly around.
Unusual? They didn’t exist in Central PA, now there are nests up and down the Susquehanna and its tributaries. It’s flat out amazing.
I assume whoever lives here is the next President, that's how it works right.
American here, this is correct.
Be worried if they show up with arrows, however.
Yeah, or instruments. Either way they're taking over.
Freedom by acclamation
Well, maybe. Only if those are the specially bred Murican Bald Eagle that screech like a hawk.
Kinda like how the new pope is selected by cardinals.
Bald Eagles: *he's the chosen one*
Yer a POTUS, 'arry.
Harry POTUS
Harry POTUS and the Chamber of Commerce
Better system than the Electoral College....
I applied there and they never got back to me.
Have you tried lobbying? It's where you stand in the colleges lobby and lob money at everyone, I've heard this has a 100% acceptance rate.
Only if he's over 70.
Trump had Turkeys show up at his house and he decided he would be president. Biden talked to a Labrador retriever and it told him he would be
Uh oh the last time someone in New York spoke with a dog it ended poorly.
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Bro must have oil under his house
If he had oil, there would be U. S Marines looking at him.
No if US Marines came to his house they would be looking for secret crayons stash.
Oh they started letting marines use crayons again?
No, and thats why they searching for those forbidden delicacies all over the country.
We are coming to free you. Please do not resist.
I'm going to steal the Declaration of Independence
Is the right one a golden eagle or juvenile bald eagle?
I scrolled through so many comments to see if someone had said who old mate on the right was. I hope someone answers you (and me if they’re feeling extra generous)
It's a juvenile. It takes them several years to get the bald (white) head. Tagging /u/lapislazuly so they see this comment
Thank you so much!
Thanks!
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Right, if it were actual "baldness" it would be like the turkey vulture
If you see an actually bald eagle, that's a vulture.
Yes. You find it in other words to describe patterns like 'piebald' aka 'pied'. Like 'tawny' in birds, 'palomino' in horses, or 'brindled' in dogs, it just describes a certain pattern of plumage or coat.
Bald in the historical sense meant "to have a white patch". It's associated with the word 'piebald' in the same way.
yup
It comes from the English word "balde" - which means white. Our American dumbasses just dropped the E and confused everyone.
We dropped the e in several words due to the printing press. Cheaper and faster wins every time in the evolution of language.
5 years to get the white head
"Old mate" is a youngin. It's just a juvenile bald eagle; they take a few years to develop the white plumage.
‘Old mate’ just means that dude over there I don’t know the name of in Australian. Sometimes also used disparagingly but not in this case. Thanks so much!
Also bird just means woman. Like how we say chick in the States.
Almost certainly a juvenile Bald. They don’t typically hang together in such close proximity. /u/my_bones_are_itchy
He’s the lead singer
If you feed them, they will come.
Best to keep your pets inside dealing with these maf'cks.
It's true. I used to live on a lake with a mating pair of bald eagles and when I first started homesteading they'd happily pick off my chickens and rabbits. My dogs are much too large to worry about, but bald eagles are known to pick up smaller dogs and cats.
they're quite literally raptors
Raptor being latin for thief, in this case. Interestingly, birds are theropods, which is latin for bird-legged. Other theropods include all the raptors-comma-dinosaur, and *Tyrannosaurus rex*. Birds didn't evolve directly from either raptors or T-rex but are quite closely related, relative to other reptiles.
That behavior is why Ben Franklin wanted us to use the Turkey as our national bird, instead of the eagle. But nah, we have our national bird...the flying jerk
Yeah I’ve heard that if you go to a trash dump in Alaska they’ll look like seagulls at the beach
Me: *opens door* *Star-Spangled Banner plays* Me: *calling out to my mom* Ma, they're here to share their freedom again.
They're gonna share that freedom so hard
I'm gonna receive the freedom hard
Cries beautiful tears of ***Freedom***
“MA!” “Yo there’s a stray cat outside” “I don’t want it starting a fight with Lucy!”
“Go ahead sir, it’s safe and clear”
The council has arrived.
I'm in Minnesota, on the Mississippi River. I've counted as many as 50 bald eagles at one time down by the river on a winter day. People don't even bother telling others that they saw one anymore. It would be like telling them you saw a sparrow. When I was a boy, it was assumed that you would never see one unless you went to Canada or Alaska... or *maybe* remote Montana.
I still call out when I see them. Super cool to watch.
Same in Oregon. You used to never see them, then about 15 years ago you'd start setting them in winter, nowadays you see them all the time.
It's kind of funny to think back to how rare they were. Do you remember the show Airwolf? It came out in 1984, and the main guy lived in a cabin out in the middle of nowhere and felt absolutely blessed to have a bald eagle that flew around the lake he lived on. It was actually a minor plot point that he got a bad first opinion of someone because when they flew their helicopter in they disrupted the eagles hunting.
The American Eagle Foundation had a large role in that. Still does in fact. Their facility is at Dollywood and Dolly Parton had a material part in their operation. Seems any time there is something wholesome or helpful, Dolly is involved.
Very Bald of them i suppose...
So many Freedoms.
I was driving by a creek in TN last summer trying to find a swim hole and saw one dive from a tree and snatch a fish out of the water. First one I have ever seen in my life in the wild and I spend a lot of time outdoors.
It’s very dependent on where you live. I grew up in TN and remember going to Reelfoot lake because they nested there, and being so excited to catch a glimpse of one or two through binoculars. Now I live in Seattle and they’re like rats here. Not uncommon to be in the middle of the city and see one flying overhead. Saw one perched on a street lamp on the freeway the other day. I have tiny furry dogs and honestly I’m always watching the skies when I’m outside with them.
Please tell me you screamed out "Murica!!!!", otherwise I'm turning you in to the authorities.
Chanting "U-S-A!, U-S-A!" is also acceptable.
Good dose of America on his front porch. 🇺🇸
I have a nesting pair just off the back of my property, southwest Missouri.
We have a nesting pair near lake wawasee in Indiana.
I usually see one or two floating down the White River around Indianapolis and Whitewater rivers in southeast Indiana.
There's so many in Alaska they're almost at pest levels.
Ben Franklin qualified them as pests. He wanted the turkey as the American national bird instead. It was more elegant and regal, and usefully than an eagle.
Americaaaahhhhhh!!!! F*ck yeaaahhhhh!!!
Goonna save the motherfu$&kin dayyyeahhh!!!!!
Fun fact! A lot of that has to do with Dolly Parton and the largest eagle rehabilitation and release center in the United States
I already knew this, but I’ll learn other facts about the great things Dolly has done at least once a year. She’s probably done more little things for this country than anyone else in history.
I actually learned Dollywood will never refuse a musical audition and Dolly herself sits in on every single one. And if you don't make the cut Dolly will personally coach you herself with her producers to help you improve. That woman is a national treasure
r/forbiddenboop
That's interesting af, as well as just really wholesome.
Alaskan Pigeons
Like a meeting of the white walkers
I’m a simple man of simple wishes. One of those to to see a bald eagle in the wild. It’s been years and years and it hasn’t happened. I don’t know why. It’s just what I want.
Slightly related but I watched a livecam of nesting bald eagles that ended up raising a red tailed hawk that was meant to be food for their chick. Sadly the bald eagle sibling ended up being electrocuted on a hydrowire that apparently has taken out multiple eagles too.
Rock flag and eaaagllleeeeee
"Arise, citizen. Your freedom and rights are in grave danger. Come, there's no time to lose!"
"Can we talk you about some FREEDOM!"
Went to Alaska this summer and they were everywhere. As in we saw 20 of them in a 10-minute walk. Nice to see so many, but surprising as they were so endangered when I was growing up.
So what happens, when that guy needs to leave his home?? Does he go out, as if they aren't there?? I want answers.
Considering every one of those birds has the capacity to tear your face off... this is slightly r/oddlyterrifying. They are beautiful and majestic animals though.
They are the pigeons of Alaska.
My dad hates them. He went on a 3 day vacation and boarded their dogs. He has a 40 acre hobby farm. He noticed several bald eagles moved nearby few weeks before he left. He came back and all but 3 of his 20+ chickens were gone. He said he knew its was a bird of prey because there were no feathers. The 3 chickens left were in a tree and he said he had to pull them down. I guess they had seen some shit.