Bald eagles are thriving again after near extinction | Hacker News Reader

Bald eagles are thriving again after near extinction

newsweek.com

292 pointsgeox200 comments

Canada says "you're welcome". (Quite some time ago US and Canadian researchers worked to trap and transport eagles from northern Canada, where there will still several thousand; those birds helped restore the population in the contiguous states.)

I've not been able to find sources to indicate the bird's conservation status in Canada at that time. As far as I can tell, every mention of the birds being on the verge of extinction should always be followed by "in the US".

They were not even endangered in the US but in the contiguous US. There was always a large population in Alaska such that people were paid to cull them.

Many "endangered" animals in the US are not endangered in the sense of extinction but in the sense that they are leaving some part of their native range. They are often "endangered in $LOCALE", not endangered generally.

I feel that eagles that can fly large distances are in a different category from land animals, which have greater pressures to adapt their lineages to particular geographic ranges, to specialize within the species.

For example, the Florida Panther: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florida_panther

This is so unbelievably lazy.

You even say this in reference to Eagles, which are a migratory species whose range crosses hemispheres, as if the contiguous United States is some small aside on that path.

“Don’t worry about the regional extinction of a migratory apex predator because they’re conveniently thriving in dumpsters behind the McDonalds in a town in Alaska.”

Can you blame them though? Big Macs are quite tasty

> “We’re used to seeing America’s national bird depicted as a majestic hero plucking wild salmon from pristine streams. But here you can see eagles for what they really are: scrappy, opportunistic feeders. If fresh fish isn’t available, the birds will eat seagulls, ducks, squirrels, mice, the occasional raven, bits of rotten meat dug out of the trash—or, in one case, a piece of pepperoni pizza snatched out of a teenager’s hand. Like us, eagles are adaptable. We should be proud.” [1]

America’s national symbol reduced to dumpster diving and fast food. It scans.

[1]https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/explore-...

Didn't Benjamin Franklin suggest the Turkey instead?

IDK how comfortable people would be eating the national bird every thanksgiving

Considering that the taste is much like bald eagle, I think folks might be comfortable reversing the two.

Reminds me of that joke about the guy who is on trial for killing a bald eagle, and he tells the judge that it was a life-or-death situation: He was lost in the woods, and after several weeks without food he luckily happened upon a bald eagle that he managed to trap and eat to avoid starvation. The judge says, “Well, in that case, we can let you go. But tell me, what does a bald eagle taste like?”

“Oh, sort of a cross between a spotted owl and a California condor.”

Surely the primarily meat-eating eagle would taste different from the primarily bug/seed eating turkey, no?

Not in the universe in which this joke takes place, no.

When given a choice between universes, choose the funnier one. Unless the joke is on you…

If only there was a universe where I got it lol…

Ask the French, who has the rooster as the national bird

What better bird to memorialize than one that people love to eat? It could be the national bird and national meal at the same time.

Probably a myth:

https://fi.edu/en/science-and-education/benjamin-franklin/na...

Not exactly: https://fi.edu/en/science-and-education/benjamin-franklin/na...

I used to think this was crazy, but after I met a few turkeys and bald eagles I concluded he was right (and further, that it would have made a great national bird0.

Where I live the bald eagle takes the place of the black vulture in the winter.

There is something kind of wrong about watching a bald eagle eat a road kill raccoon.

I don’t really think it is ‘wrong,’ or even really unexpected. In the winter, fish may not a viable food option for the eagles due to ice or fish lifecycle. Birds of prey have to keep their weight low, and they don’t have the option to gorge themselves on a kill like a wolf or a lion can. Most birds of prey are only a few missed meals away from death by starvation.

Winter’s scarcity is deadly for predators, and nature doesn’t care about maintaining nobility or the optics of a dead raccoon lunch.

"There is something kind of wrong about watching a bald eagle eat a road kill raccoon."

Why? The bald eagle is a ... bird wot eats meat. If the meat dies by other means and involves no effort then cool - dive in and tuck in. I'll grant you - its not for me!

Look at the constraints and restrictions and opportunities for birds. Yes they can fly (why do they fly). Flying requires huge amounts of energy. It needs the body to be "light" which isn't helpful for a predator that might encounter resistance - feathers turn out to be quite a good armour, along with some fancy footwork and some very fancy bone structures help with the weight issue.

The talons and beak are superb adaptations too. Horrid to watch in action but that's what they do.

Try and imagine yourself in the place of your hero bird. It has a sodding hard and quite short life. Now try and imagine how it strives to stay alive and be that symbol you love to think of - it does not care what you think about its diet! It strives to stay alive and that is really hard - even for an apex predator.

I disturbed a bald eagle eating a road kill deer by driving by one time.

You know how crows and other birds will take off and look like they're going to hit your car? Now imagine it with a bird with a 6 foot wingspan.

I live pretty close to a couple of bald eagles in central Denver. I have seen one of them mixing it up with the other birds to get table scraps left behind by people using the park. I have no idea what they are eating generally but sometimes they are pretty happy to just grab some bread on the ground or whatever.

They are scavengers. They eat what is available.

Up here in western Canada if you want to see A LOT of eagles you go to the dump. They love it there.

>... bits of rotten meat dug out of the trash-or, in one case, a piece of pepperoni pizza snatched out of a teenager's hand.

The article makes it clear that they're inherently "scrappy and opportunistic". You can change the items to match any time period - what about snatching food from a settler's hand, or sneaking a bite of rotten meat a native might have lying around? That's fundamentally the same thing as grabbing food out of a dumpster.

For as much shit as I talk about the state of this country, I'm struggling to use what is, ostensibly, just a bird eating food out of a dumpster as some kind of example of our decline.

> Don’t worry...

that part was fiction, added by you, represented as if he said it.

It is pretty clearly implied.

only if you extend the definition of "endangered" , this argument/position hinges on the definition of a single word. the far left wants to extend the definition of that word to mean the most devastating, irreversible, "give-us-money-or-the-bird-gets-it" definition possible. The GP however, explains that the dire extreme doesn't necessarily reflect reality.

Thanks for making it political... For what it's worth, the far right is perfectly capable of weaponize conservation. Think of the war on windmills.

Its always word games. The word games only work for so long before people realize they're being tricked. Environmentalists that were honest rather than sensational would probably be better for the environment in the long run.

It does not matter, conservatives will willify them all. And will lie about nature and about what environmentalists say. Stop this nonsense where republicans and their donors damage things, lie and then blame their opposition for not being perfect.

My parents lived in a small village in Alaska in the 1990s. Much too small to have a McDonalds or even dumpsters. They had resident bald eagles in the same way many cities have pigeons. That entire region of North America has always been like this. They’ve culled hundreds of thousands of the birds over the last century because they can become a nuisance, particularly if over-populated. They’ll eat anything that looks like meat.

In the same way, the brown bear is almost non-existent in its native range in the contiguous US, but abundant further north. The bald eagle gets somewhat special treatment because it is a national symbol.

Yeah, there are only a few pockets of grizzlies left in the lower 48, and one of them connects to their larger territory in Canada. They used to roam throughout Washington's Cascades but are completely gone, so much so that there are efforts to reintroduce them in the NCNP soon.

Reintroduce.... grizzlies? I know the wolf reintroduction was beneficial, but wolves have killed a grand total of 2 humans in north america in the 21st century. Grizzlies, in contrast, have 11 kills in half a decade (2020- 2025). That's an order of magnitude higher of the danger each one poses, so I'm curious if the grizzly reintroduction yaysayer arguments are using wolve reintroduction as a positive example.

15 people have been killed in car accidents in the United States since you posted this comment.

But yeah, letting wildlife live in its natural range is the problem.

I'm all for reintroducing grizzlies, heck reintroduce east coast bison, but you're very much missing the benefit side of the cost benefit analysis.

such a reddit comment, ugh. and I got downvoted for asking a question that you didnt like... another reddit trait. Please read the hackernews forum rules.

If they reintroduce them, they should at least let us hunt them so they remember to be scared of humans.

This is pretty hysterical. How many grizzlies do humans kill a year?

To say nothing of the California golden bear, which graces the state flag despite being hunted to extinction around 1924. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_grizzly_bear

In North Dakota there are a fair number of actively used (bald) eagle nests, including in the largest city of Fargo. We have videos of them eating fish, competing over a dropped carcass, as you can imagine. There is plenty of prey in the fields, dumps, riverbanks, etc.

>This is so unbelievably lazy.

>You even say this in reference to the Eagles, which are a migratory species whose range crosses hemispheres, as if the contiguous United States is some small aside on that path.

And yet, according to Wikipedia...

>In the late 20th century it was on the brink of extirpation in the contiguous United States, but measures such as banning the practice of hunting bald eagles and banning the use of the harmful pesticide DDT slowed the decline of their population. Populations have since recovered, and the species' status was upgraded from "endangered" to "threatened" in 1995 and removed from the list altogether in 2007.

The irony of calling someone "unbelievably lazy" without maybe checking to see if there was some accuracy to what they were saying is... lol.

It’s unbelievably lazy to trivialize biodiversity loss given the fact that we’re in the midst of the Anthropocene Extinction.

We should all be grateful to Canada for being a refuge for so many species we slaughtered with westward expansion.

You’ll find a list here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species_reintroduction

Again, Eagles are a migratory species, that they subsisted by eating garbage in small town Alaska having been hunted and DDT’d to extinction in the lower 48 isn’t the feather in your cap you think it is. The point is that we killed all of the eagles in the lower 48 - a huge swath of territory.

>... that they're thriving eating garbage in small town Alaska...

This is an "unbelievably lazy" and fundamental misunderstanding of how vast and unpopulated Alaska is. I mean you've even got someone else[1] in this thread with experience highlighting that your assertion is inaccurate.

>... and DDT'd to extinction in the lower 48...

You completely missed the part of the quote, in my comment, that very clearly states they were never extinct, and were upgraded from "endangered" to "threatened", and then removed from the list entirely in 2007.

>The point is that we killed all of the eagles in the lower 48 - a huge swath of territory.

It was never true that we killed all of them in the lower 48. Please go read the previously linked Wiki article.

[1]https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43180488

We don't fully know (and probably never will) how many genetic diversity has been lost in USA population, subspecies, etc.

I know you won't but It feels you are about to thank us humans to make bald eagle population lower so their diseases didn't spread. Living in Europe this flow of thoughs it's been heard so much.

>We don't fully know (and probably never will) how many genetic diversity has been lost in USA population, subspecies, etc.

I completely agree with this statement.

>I know you won't but It feels you are about to thank us humans to make bald eagle population lower so their diseases didn't spread.

What does this even mean? I simply want an accurate picture of things. Someone made a statement, someone else attacked them for it and insisted they were wrong, yet in point of fact, the initial statement was accurate. More falsehoods were then spread, and I corrected those, too.

That's 'bout it. To imply that I feel some certain way about bald eagles or species loss because I just asked for an accurate understanding around what actually happened is a bit of a stretch.

It’s unbelievably lazy how everyone is suddenly an expert on bald eagles.

Man.. c'mon.. I had a rough night and I hate the fuckin' Eagles, man..

> Many "endangered" animals in the US are not endangered in the sense of extinction but in the sense that they are leaving some part of their native range.

I'm reading this and not understanding where you're going with it. I mean, I get the libertarian bent of the argument: the government is overreaching in an attempt to preserve that which is unimportant, or something to that effect.

But what is the policy aim here? You want eagles to be removed from the endangered species list[1] for... what? So farmers can use DDT again? (The article points out, correctly, that DDT is believed to be the single largest cause of their decline). That seems poorly grounded.

Honestly mostly this just sounds like whining to me.

[1] Which already happened. In 1995! They remained Threatened until 2007 when even that category was removed. In point of fact the success of the bald eagle recovery seems like an argument in favor of species-based conservation efforts. Do you really disagree?

Seems to me like the post is just noting that if you want to postfix "in the US" to "endangered," you should more properly postfix "in the contiguous US." I have no idea why the DDT rant.

Pursuit of the truth is worthwhile in and of itself.

The word "Endangered" in this context (which, again, hasn't applied to the bald eagle for 30 years!) is defined by and used within the context of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Inserting an "actuallly" argument is doing nothing but harming understanding.

It is common for people to have an understanding of terms which differs from their precise legal definition, and the difference between the two can be interesting.

Right, so you agree with me then that calling out ambiguous usage and citing the relevant definitions is valuable? People are getting outrageously bent out of shape in this thread when all I'm trying to say is that the Endangered Species Act is a valuable and important tool and that attempts to "define it away" with ambiguous rhetoric is bad.

The fact that I keep trying to pin you guys down on policy implications with no success tells me an awful lot about who I'm arguing with. (Again: do you or don't you want to return to the use of DDT? Do you or don't you agree that the bald eagle should have been listed as endangered until 1995? Do you or don't you agree that "Endangered" as a legal classification has been a good law? No one answers!)

I really got the strong impression from your comments that you were trying to say there was some hidden nefarious intent behind his comment. You haven't really done anything to dispel that impression.

Otherwise, to what are you referring with "attempts to "define it away" with ambiguous rhetoric is bad." ?

Don't know about "nefarious", but cryptolibertarianism is extremely common on this forum. People throw out points like that all the time and then (as here) run to semantic arguments when challenged. But the point was the challenge, not the intent.

Is it possible I'm wrong about intent? Sure! But the Endangered Species Act remains a really important law and a seminal moment in US conservation policy. And the fact that no one seems to want to talk about it is... suspicious. So I think I'm probably right. Both about the poster above and you.

But more importantly, I'm right about conservation law, even though no one wants to discuss it.

Instead of trying to impute hidden motives, you could just read it as the statement of fact that it was. I wasn't "going" anywhere with it. I've always been an avid conservationist and have actively worked on climate change for decades, I have a pretty good handle of the issues. But I also abhor the popular strain of ideology that believes we should obscure the truth or be dishonest about the reality when communicating with the public because we imagine they might engage in wrong think.

I discovered many years ago that almost everyone is surprised to find out that "endangered" in this context has little relation to "almost extinct" because that is their intuitive understanding of the term and people are encouraged to misinterpret it that way. It comes across as misleading at the very least, which fosters distrust. There is evidence on this very thread that people are confused by this distinction. Furthermore, this has historically been weaponized by activists in ways that are indefensible in the pursuit of other agendas.

If we are going to have adult conversations about these issues then it is imperative that everyone has the same understanding of the tradeoffs at stake and feels they are not being manipulated in bad faith. We have enough challenges with the environment, we don't need to invent new ones.

I still don't understand why you went to that point in a discussion of an animal that (1) isn't characterized as endangered because (2) the relevant conservation effort (decades ago!) was wildly successful.

I mean, do you or don't you disagree with the regulatory practice of labelling "Endangered" species? It sounds like you do. In which case, you're wrong. The Endangered Species Act is a cornerstone of US conservation policy and has saved literally hundreds of species at this point.

You're really reading too much into this. It's an interesting fact that I hadn't heard before, and I appreciated OP sharing it! And from what it sounds like that's exactly why OP shares it: because it's an interesting fact that makes people think.

Why do you persist in trying to assign any motive other than curiosity?

Sometimes people just share information that they have about a topic as part of a discussion, without there being a persuasive intent.

There is no libertarian bent in the argument. I suspect a lot of the drive to censor comes out of extrapolations like this, where people are reading into factual statements agendas that are not there.

In 2020, I had this chart showing the IFR for COVID (it's gone down since then due to widespread immunity from vaccination and natural infection) taken down by Facebook's "fact-checkers" because apparently providing the chart without context was "misleading":

Age Group | Low | Mean | High

-----------------------------

0-19 | 0.007% | 0.01% | 0.02%

20-29 | 0.01% | 0.02% | 0.03%

30-39 | 0.04% | 0.05% | 0.06%

40-49 | 0.08% | 0.1% | 0.1%

50-59 | 0.2% | 0.3% | 0.4%

60-69 | 0.7% | 0.9% | 1.1%

70-79 | 1.8% | 2.4% | 2.9%

80+ | 3.4% | 4.4% | 5.5%

-----------------------------

Total | 0.4% | 0.5% | 0.6%

Same "I don't like the agenda I suspect this is intended to push" rationale behind the censorship.

Counterargument: characterizing a comment literally asking a question of the commenter as a (ahem) "drive to censor" is even more of a "political extrapolation".

I wasn't suggesting that the commenter was pushing to censor. Just that the same kinds of extrapolations are the motivation and given-justification for a lot of censorship. I do concede that it was an off tangent point.

The comment very much did not just ask a question. It specifically mentioned trying to find out what the argument is, and mentioned inferring a libertarian bent where none existed.

> did not just ask a question. It specifically mentioned trying to find out what the argument is,

Trying to think of a scenario were "asking a question" and "trying to find out what the argument is" are not synonyms...

There are tons of bald eagles in British Columbia. I see them all the time.

This part of Florida was lousy with them when I moved here in the early 90s. And FTR, this area was like Canada South then. Tons of snowbirds.

Everything changes. I haven't seen a bald eagle in a decade or two. I still see Canadians but not a lot. Our forever warming winters are changing what snowbird season is like.

Well, you'll see a lot fewer of us this winter and at least the next 3 after and it won't be because of the changing planetary climate.

Honestly, FL sucks more+more from every angle. I'm baffled why anyone wants to move here.

I've never been, only ever heard bad things.

Except for Manatees. I really want to see some Manatees. So beautiful.

Just go already. Florida has outstanding state parks and natural areas. Many of them will be gone forever soon(ish).

Spend much of your time there camping at the parks or in cheap hotels, buy food at grocery stores, etc. Stay away from the rich/expensive areas and you won’t contribute much of anything to the craziness of the place. You’ll also find that the average Floridian isn’t nearly as crazy as you thought.

Some day. Not now. Like many Canadians I intend on spending my money at home or in Europe for the next 4 years.

And, as a famous but terrible Canadian once said, "I have more than enough to eat at home."

There's Manatees in Cuba, too.

Fair enough. But the tiniest RV you can get away with, bringing your own kayaks and SUPs, folding lawn chairs, etc - you’ll see/experience the parts worth seeing/experiencing and only give a few dollars to the shitbags. You’ll be the winner of that bargain.

Manatees are cool. They pop up regularly in some waterways near here. They're the only non-mundane animal I still see like I did in the 90s. And turkeys. Lots of turkeys lately, bigger too.

USD <> CAD exchange rate is rough right now so lots of snowbirds aren’t going lately.

Our housing prices are 5x above the 1990s. Besides 06-08, there was a steady, steep rise from 2016-2020, then everything doubled at once.

I think the Canadian exodus away from here has been going on for well over a decade. Temps and prices never stop climbing.

Wait til you get a sniff at Canadian housing prices. The most insane in the G7.

Imagine paying >$1M for a modest 3 bedroom home and still having to shovel snow and have to endure weather where the air hurts your face.

Yea, looks like the median house price in Tampa is $USD 450k. The median house price in Calgary is $CAD 600k which is in the same ballpark, and I wouldn’t even consider Calgary a “nice place”.

If you want to live in a nice place like anywhere in British Columbia you are paying $750k for something built in the 80s with 4 walls and a roof.

Even here in Canada it's been amazing to see them return to areas where they were gone (southern Ontario, etc). There's a population of them now in Coote's Paradise here in Hamilton. Apparently after a 50 year absence.

https://www.rbg.ca/plants-conservation/nature-sanctuaries/co...

Huh. I'll have look out for them.

Canada may say "you're welcome", but does the US say "thanks"? Not under the current administration! Ok, they might care about the bald eagle, but other than that, Republican economic interests (real or imagined) will always trump (heh) environmental concerns:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/donald-trump-yearslong-war-de...

You're not welcome for the Canadian Geese.

You don't like cobra chickens? And their copious poops?

Actually the goslings are adorable. There's a park nearby where they excessively congregate and I love to take pictures of the little floofballs being all awkward and floofy.

Here in Oregon we have a lot of them, but it never gets old seeing them! We usually see at least a couple on our way to the coast from Portland. Earlier this week, my wife and I saw a mating pair fly high over this field by our house and spiral down towards the ground, holding talons. It was amazing, they are huge incredible birds. I’m so glad to live somewhere that has lots of public land and habitat preservation so my family can enjoy the clean air, water, skies, and trees, as can all of the wildlife we have.

There is a big nest above the Oaks Bottom wetland. It is strange to have bald eagles hanging out as a normal part of the area.

Adding to this thread: I see them a ton around Cathedral Park in St Johns.

In Astoria, Oregon on Wireless road you can find nearly 100 in a tree. I'm not sure why they are in such high numbers, but you can often see them scavenging fields where seafood waste (shells) are dumped.

<<not sure why they are in such high numbers, but you can often see them scavenging fields where seafood waste>>

that's why. :)

That’s amazing! I’d love to see it. Looking at a map, the road doesn’t look too long so we could hunt for it, but if you see this could you describe how to find the specific tree?

I'm jealous, I think I've only ever seen one at a zoo twenty years ago. I think they're extremely cool looking birds, I would love to see one in the wild, but they don't appear to hang out much in NYC.

We only have about 76 breeding pairs here in Massachusetts, but I do see a few fly over my house every once in a while.

We have a few in the North East corner of Massachusetts.

Same here in western MA, there's a nest along the Connecticut River in West Springfield.

They're comically obnoxious - they have annoying screeches, almost like a squeaky straw. If they get acclimated to people, will steal food and anything that remotely looks like food. They're smart, in the way that most big birds are smart, but rarely sociable and curious like ravens.

Kinda majestic and noble looking, though.

I love the sound, and we live with it pretty much every day as they roost in our fir trees while hunting. We’re up on a hill about a mile from the Willamette River and they seem to be able to see when snacks appear (no idea really, but they fly with purpose in that direction).

The really scary birds are the occasional Falcons that move so fast and so low I’m both startled and confused when they buzz the yard.

They remind me of a badly played "Cuica" instrument, hah - maybe my siblings traumatized me with squeaky straws in lids or something, but I find eagle screeches to be obnoxious.

And now the true reason for the plastic straw ban emerges.

Them not being sociable makes them kind of more mysterious and therefore kind of more majestic as well.

It doesn't surprise me that they're smart. It feels like the insult "bird brain" is decidedly a pretty bad insult, because birds aren't stupid.

Can confirm, my chickens are far smarter than my dog.

> they have annoying screeches, almost like a squeaky straw

The majestic call you hear in ads with bald eagles is actually that of the red-tailed hawk.

Red tailed hawks are also unbelievably obnoxious. I had one nest in my yard a couple years back and they drove me nuts.

Years ago I made friends with a red tailed hawk. He was sitting in a tree watching me while I was washing my car. On a lark I sprayed him with my hose. I figured I was being slightly obnoxious, but he actually liked it. For the rest of that summer, he'd show up occasionally when I was outside and wait for his shower. Never saw him again after that year though.

I have no idea where these people live where they're getting food sntached by rogue bald eagles but here in Virginia these damn red-tailed hawks are thugs. I have to throw a frisbee for my over zealous eighty pound doberman and these hawks try to swoop in to snatch her toy. Happens in the spring\early summer. She barked at one last year and it literally shat on her from the tree's. And what I find strange is these hawks are in groups when they do this. Never seen any other raptor species gang up like these hawks.

Wow, your population sounds so different from ours. We have them here (rural southern Ontario) and they're stupidly shy. I've seen them hover around our neighbour's chicken yard, but they never catch anything. And they roost up in some tall trees at the back of my property. But if I even go out my backdoor with a telephoto lens to try to get a picture from like 300ft away, they're gone as soon as they can a single noise from me.

Could be juveniles, perhaps recently fledged and still hanging out together, and learning to hunt properly.

Apparently the slang term for them among wildlife rehabbers is "freedom pigeons".

They are big beautiful animals. But they are also lazy dumpster-diving scavengers.

They like suburban Winnipeg. They'll circle dogs for a while before giving up and flying away.

> before giving up and flying away.

Careful! That's not always a given!

Not quite NYC, but I saw one from the train (Metro North going to Anthony's Nose along the Hudson) a while ago!

NYC is more friendly for falcons. https://www.amny.com/news/peregrine-falcon-nyc-1-36858953

They’re very cool too. I am grateful we have them here.

Plenty of them in Seattle too, I've seen them flying over downtown many times. They like to sit in the trees at Discovery Park.

We have a bloat slip on Lake Sammamish and there is a family living in one of the giant trees near the slip. Marymoor park + the lake seem like a great space for them to hunt and live.

I'm also on Lake Sammamish and have a couple bald eagles living on a tree next to the house! A bit random but if you ever want to meet up, I will be there May-June this year :)

There's a few that used to live on one of the 520 pylons and would watch the morning bridge traffic go by everyday, but then one was hit and killed by a bus windshield.

…so it got hit by a bus?

I watch one get harangued by crows every time it comes to my Seattle neighborhood. It is such a large animal compared to the crows, if it were serious it would absolutely rip the crows to shreds. So far, peaceful.

There is a wild bald eagle that has taken up residency in Woodland Park Zoo, and has constructed a huge nest in the tree on top of the hill in the Elk enclosure. You can see it from the "Elk Overlook" at the end of the trail.

It's quite convenient that the bald eagle chose the Elk enclosure as its home because that's part of the Living Northwest Trail, so it blends in seamlessly alongside all the other native, but captive, PNW animals!

The only official mention I can find of this is:

https://blog.zoo.org/2020/10/meet-raptors-superheroes-of-ski...

> Wild bald eagles often nest and raise their young in one of the trees on zoo grounds.

Lots of them in west central Florida, at least around the golf courses and wooded areas.

We have them on Long Island (New York). There's a pair that live in Centerport (a fairly well-to-do neighborhood, nearby), that even have their own Facebook group.

They eat eels. Lots of eels.

I understand they are fairly numerous, up the Hudson Valley.

We have hundreds here that gather on the same river to catch salmon in the fall. It’s a big tourist attraction. Glad to hear they are thriving down south as well.

I'm 66 years old and never saw a Bald Eagle until I was in my 30s. That was near St. Louis along the Mississippi River. Where I live now (the Ozarks) they're common to see and have been for over 30 years. Some years ago I was camping out here on a lake shore and early in the morning there was a pair of Bald eagles sitting together on a limb on the other side of the lake. I couldn't help but stand there and stare at them. After a bit one of them took off and started flying right toward me, and when it got to my side of the lake it swooped down and pick up a dead branch off the shore line and then turn at me, flapped it's wings a couple time and then threw it at me! Then it flew right back to where its mate was and sat back down next it. I couldn't help but think they were both laughing at me.

Last year, about this time of year, I saw my first Golden Eagle. It was trying to snatch one of my hens. Those are truly amazing. By far the biggest bird I've ever seen. And to be so close to it too. I wasn't more than 12ft from it. I waved my arms and screamed at it and it finally let go of the hen and took off. As it took off I saw there was a "murder" of crows sitting in the trees watching us, at least 30-40 of them, and the eagle took off heading their way. As soon as it got close to the them they all took off chasing it, dive bombing it and cawing like mad!

It's truly great to see them, but my experience is you can't trust them.

Super wierd take.

Ha ha, the last line made me ponder whether the whole thing was a metaphor. I've been watching too many Russian films lately I suppose.

> It's truly great to see them, but my experience is you can't trust them.

Suddenly a life lesson.

> ... it finally let go of the hen and took off.

How was the hen afterwards?

She was fine.

I only rarely saw a bald eagle until I moved into a river house a few years back.

That river was one I'd fished since I was a kid. What I've seen has been amazing, all up - the river is far more full of bigger and healthier fish than it ever has been. The birds I've seen along the river have been of a much wider variety, including plenty of Bald Eagles (but also a massive population of red tail hawks, turkey vultures, cranes, storks, herons, etc.). In the spring we get flocks of pelicans coming through the last few years! Pelicans! Occasionally, I get to see an eagle or hawk snatch a fish out of the water.

It's really been amazing to see. It's not all good news - you can't leave small pets unattended outside. We got a ~40lb dog instead of a smaller one because of this.

I don't know if it's just because I grew up with American media that made them seem badass, but the first time I saw one up in Maine I was blown away. It looked so stoic. Also very intimidating for someone going on a hike.

There must be something to it since eagles have been used as symbols for thousands of years alongside the likes of lions and dragons. If anything, media undersells how big and intimidating they are in real life.

> crows sitting in the trees

crows making noise are a surefire way to find out anything going on in the woods.

except once I found a silent crow, but a bluejay squawking - the crow was stealing from the bluejay's nest.

Saw 3 of them today in central Connecticut. Never gets old.

About 2 years ago, a juvenile baldie landed on a pier 4.0 meters from me (according to my camera sensor).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/6cUhtJggrVn5KakX6

I thought the dang thing was gonna rip me to shreds. But it just looked me over for about 10 seconds and then rendezvoused with an older eagle over the Connecticut River.

That focus is crisp!

Surprisingly, it's not that crisp.

I was on the pier at sunrise (probably about 5:30 AM) and the light was LOW, so I had to boost the ISO a lot.

Ironically, the bird was almost too close because the minimum distance of my telephoto lens was about 4 meters.

Boosting the ISO will increase noise, but it won't have any effect on focus. Of course, low light means a wider aperture and a shallow depth of field, but as long as the subject is right at the focal distance, that won't matter much either. There is definitely visible noise, but you nailed the focus.

That's one really awesome photo, everything is perfect on it.

In 90's I saw bald eagles for the first time (I mostly grew up in DFW, TX) in the Mississippi Valley between WI and Iowa, later in backbone ridge state park, where the valleys are so steep the eagles are flying below you when you're on a spur. It was amazing to me because, as a child in the 70's and 80's we were always hearing about DDT and endangered eagles. Fast forward ~30 years from the early 90's (after a long stint in Canada) I've moved to semi-rural Wisconsin and I see eagles monthly, and closeup (I see red-tail hawks daily, Cooper hawks weekly - one killed one of my chickens last fall), pheasants weekly and sandhill cranes for months every year.

Seems like the conservation efforts for eagles actually worked, and I can't be more pleased.

(Hey, I like birds, ok? I even kept a log with my partner for a while of all the birds we were able to identify at our Bir feeders and on walks).

You may find it interesting that DFW has a nesting pair of eagles that got blown down in a storm and stuck around. What's doubly interesting is that the same area has flocks of parrots that are also thriving.

Sandhill cranes are a game bird in some states. I understand they're very tasty.

I was part of the re-introduction program for Bald Eagles (coastal NC) and Peregrines (Mountains NC) and am extremely proud of that.

I lived on a mountain in NC with the hacking falcons and in a wildlife refuge in NC on the coast for the eagles.

Great memories feeding and tracking the fledglings.

Thank you for your efforts!

I remember going on a boat ride to a hotsprings cove on the Pacific side of Vancouver island, and seeing 50+ bald eagles in a small bay flying around a fishing boat. At the time I still thought bald eagles were endangered. They're pretty common in Vancouver, especially near the water, but on occasion I've also seen very large groups flying over land

I pretty much see them on a daily basis in the Driftless Area of Wisconsin and Illinois these days, which is great because I don't think I had one sighting for the first 30 or so years of my life.

I'm South of Madison. Love the Driftless!

Going fishing in Canada, fishermen will just smack a walleye in the noggin with an oar, knocking it senseless, and throw it in the water a few yards from the boat. Eagles will just swoop down and grab it. Pretty interesting way to get up close an personal.

There are at least 5 nesting within a mile of my house, and I live within the city limits. It's just a joy seeing them float overhead. One time I was walking down the street and one came gliding along the street at eye level. I could have reached out and touched its wingtip. Wingtip to wingtip, it's gigantic.

But my, the look on its face! It's a pure predator. No wonder fighter pilots like to paint eagles on their birds. I sure wouldn't want to get in a scrap with one.

I had no idea how big owls were, either, until one sat on the porch railing staring at me. Glad I was bigger than the owl.

It's not a good neighborhood for outdoor cats and small dogs.

I see bald eagles pretty regularly on the south side of Chicago in an old industrial site that is being redeveloped as a wilderness area and bike park.

The first time one flew over me pretty low was a very reptile brain moment.

Siting in central Vermont confirmed this winter :). Pretty cool seeing one, as it was a first for me. Took me a second to believe what I was seeing.

The first time I saw a bald eagle was about a mile's walk into the woods (no paths), in a marshy area in a northeastern state forest.

We surprised each other, and all I could do is stare, stunned, while s/he took flight about 20 yards in front of me.

Now granted, I was about 15 and had grown up with all the iconography and mythology, but I felt instantly that that bird earned it all. S/he was enormous and beautiful and majestic in a way that I had never seen before in a wild animal. (And rarely since!)

Made me think that, to the great majority of species, humans are just an unwelcome out-of-control infestation on the planet. Yes, we have some redeeming qualities, but they are not often on display to these animals. :)

When I was a kid growing up in eastern Kentucky, I went on a hike through isolated country about five or ten miles from home. Was way up on what was basically a small mountain and saw a bald eagle circle overhead. Naturally, I told everybody, but they thought I was lying or an idiot. Now nobody would have any reason to doubt it. Amazing to witness such a comeback in our own lifetimes!

Growing up in Buffalo New York, I only once as a kid saw one flying while on a camping trip in a remote state park. Now, you see one almost every day on the coastline of lake Erie. They are so much bigger than other birds that you will notice even if you are not on the lookout. Their scale is astounding compared to sea gulls.

They have also come back to the Potomac and Washington DC which is nice.

The changes made to help Bald Eagles have had a positive effect on all raptors - we have had a big uptick in Coopers Hawks, with several nesting in our area. They are territorial and relatively long lived so we have names for the ones we see most often. An environment that can support apex predators is generally a pretty good one!

They are technically classified as "Least Concern" now; at the bottom of the chart right alongside seagulls and pigeons. Not even threatened anymore. As well as the fact that being an apex predator means countless other (less charismatic) species and ecosystems had to have been saved to make it happen. What an accomplishment.

They do have a US law focused on them, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

If anyone is interested in seeing bald eagles, there is a nesting pair in Big Bear, CA with three eggs being monitored via live webcam: https://www.friendsofbigbearvalley.org/eagles/

In Orange County, specifically Santa Ana CA, my grandfather had built a house with the help of his 2 brothers back in the 50s. A bald eagle would land in the backyard almost every year in July as some sort of stop along a migratory path. I first saw it when I was 7 and it was at least as big as me.

I took over the property from 2011ish to 2018 in my late 30s and I never saw another. Glad they are still there.

Wow, I never knew they used to offer DDT-laced wallpaper. https://thesocietypages.org/socimages/files/2008/02/DDTwallp...

I grew up in New England in the 70s and 80s and never saw one - we were told that they were nearly wiped out in the lower 48 by illegal hunting and poisoning via DDT or some other substance that they ingested through poisoned prey.

I saw my first one about 25 years ago outside our office building that overlooked a partially frozen reservoir. Some ducks or geese were clustered in an open patch of water, and then boom! The eagle came down. It ate the waterfowl on the edge of the ice, staining it red with blood and gore.

Now they are common, especially near rivers or lakes. One regularly perches on the neighbor's giant fir that towers over our house. They are huge.

It's kind of crazy going to a port in Alaska where they're nearly as common as seagulls scavenging cast offs from the fishing industry. A few is amazing and majestic a dozen or more just looks silly.

Living near Ithaca, NY, I often see bald eagles when out on bird walks.

But this doesn't compare to some years ago during a cold winter in Illinois. The Mississippi River had mostly frozen over, and a very large group of bald eagles had congregated in the Quad Cities area near the dams, where the outflow kept the water clear of ice and stunned fish for them to eat. I mean: hundreds of eagles, clogging up city parks, in the trees, on the ground, everywhere. It was remarkable.

I've lived in the area I live in for over 30 years. It's in a rural area. Last year I was walking in the woods and I came across a bald eagle on the ground eating something. I was probably 10 feet from it when it flew away. I saw 2 when I was golfing last summer. And then just a couple of months ago I saw another flying above my car after eating something near the road.

I had never seen a bald eagle before these encounters.

Soon TV shows and movies won't be able to use the red tail hawk noise for bald eagles because everyone will actually know what they sound like.

Growing up in Minnesota I would see them quite a bit. We have a lot of lakes, so it's an environment where you would see a lot of them.

I think the strongest indicator a species will survive extinction and thrive is "appears as a drawing on the rear of millions of nationally worshipped pieces of paper".

I wonder if for example publishing a naked mole rat stamp in some extremely large quantity would have some kind of effect on conservation (if they happened to be vulnerable to habitat loss).

Moved to Denver at the beginning of the pandemic. One of my coolest memories that first winter was bald eagle watching at Barr Lake. Thought we'd be lucky to see one or two, but actually stumbled on about a dozen, all mating pairs. The nests were ridiculous, probably about 5-6 feet in diameter and several feet tall.

Quick note that article is describing the species recovery since 1971 which is so long ago that even I don't remember much about that year. So although we have eagles that like to circle above Costco and pull fish out the river by my kids old school, they were on their way to extinction 50 years ago.

The disappearance of a species from a region is called extirpation, not extinction.

See them every month now in Central Florida. My friend works for the state protecting them, mainly ensuring they are not disturbed when new construction or powerlines are installed.

Similar story in Europe with white tailed eagles, which are quite similar in size. They were extinct in my area for maybe 60 years and recently returned and even started to hatch.

Anecdotally - I live in Ohio, this past year I have seen 3 bald eagles, including one nest. Prior to this I have never seen one (aside from out of state travels).

Can confirm. I see them almost every day in central Florida. I live near a so-called bird sanctuary and wildlife preserve so maybe that accounts for sone if it.

Why “so-called”?

Many locals refer to it as such, but I am not sure the area has been officially deemed a bird sanctuary. It is a well-known area where birds from around the world converge.

Living in Michigan I used to only see them rarely up north, now I see them on my drive home from work in the middle of the state!

Why bald?

Bald eagles are not bald; the name derives from an older meaning of the word, "white-headed". — Wikipedia

In Colorado I had the pleasure to see two bald eagles flying in a circle recently. It really brightened my day!

I love seeing them. I wouldn’t mind seeing 20 a day. I assume they’re generally good for the ecosystem?

They're alpha predators. Alpha predators are vital to a healthy, functioning ecosystem.

There are some bald eagle cams where you can watch the baby eagles in the nests. They eat a lot of fish.

I've seen one of these suckers IRL. They are huge. Pics simply don't due justice.

I live in British Columbia, there are tons of bald eagles over here.

bald eagles thriving if you got feathers be wary because you are not willing to give to the cause

Bald eagles occasionally visit my farm. On multiple occasions, I have seen them swoop in and carry off a duck, leaving almost no evidence. They eventually eat my entire flock, so I periodically need to restock.

Even when I catch them in the act, I cannot yell at them for it, because that would be "hazing". They are federally prohibited from any sort of interference, so they have learned that there is a consequence-free dine-and-dash buffet here.

These experiences enlightened me as to why some farmers prefer the "3S" approach to predator management: Shoot, Shovel, and Shut up.

A similar thing happens in Greece where if antiquities are found on your property , you want to properly bury it immediately or risk going bankrupt on your building project. Not sure on the details, but this is what my Greek boss told me once.

This is a minor plot line in the British TV show Detectorists.

In the US there's the 5th ammendment:

"nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

don't know how that would actually work if something like the parthenon was uncovered in the US.

America is well and truly back

This is good news, although the only "news" here seems to be the removal from the New Jersey endangered species list.

The success of conservation efforts were already being widely lauded in the mid-1990s in Missouri (and deliberately emphasized in the public school curriculum), and bald eagles were common sights particularly near the Missouri or Mississippi River.

Who knows they might go back on the list, bird flu has been bad in NJ and the first place I saw regular nesting pairs of bald eagles is now closed off to the public because of it: https://merrillcreek.com/

Some more general news on it killing them: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/interactive/2024/bald...

It's a portent. Donald J. Trump must be bringing the greatness back.

For now. They won’t last long at these co2 levels.

I’d be the first to speak out against climate change, but I’m not sure I understand how co2 is relevant? The current ambient co2 in the world ranges around 400-500 ppm. It can easily get into the thousands indoors and that doesn’t impact birds. It seems like we’re a long way off from ambient co2 causing an issue with wild birds?

My dog sleeps next to my thighs. She’s small, but under a sheet, a blanket, and a comforter, the CO2 has to be through the roof. Nevertheless she hears my alarm before I do and at 5:25 is wide awake.

Nature will do fine with increased co2, bar arctic/antartic turmoil, it'll not be a big problem. The far bigger problem is that places where nature can even be gets occupied by humans or their farms and logging.

Correct, habitat loss from human settlements and agriculture is a far greater threat to the natural environment than CO2 emissions. CO2 emissions have actually resulted in massive greening around the world:

https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/goddard/carbon-d...

The two that hang out on my property seem to have raised several chicks to adulthood successfully the past 4 years I've watched them.

It seems like they can adapt if they're just left alone

https://news.wttw.com/2025/02/17/bird-flu-claims-bald-eagle-...

Maybe

Kinda sad and ironic that the symbol of American freedom is thriving right now...

Why?

It's ironic that someone would think that because their candidate of choice didn't win in a democratic election (if they were even an American).

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