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Comment by lukevp | Hacker News Reader

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.

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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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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