The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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Our national emblem, the Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalu) is the only eagle unique to North America. As I am sure many of you know, had Ben Franklin had his way, our symbol would have been the Wild Turkey. According to Franklin, the eagle
” … is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his living honestly. … Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District.”
Maybe Ben was right about the eagle. Here one flees from a dive bombing crow.
Follow below the aerie nesting material to see more on this matter of eagles.
Despite Franklin’s denigration of our symbol, most of us think of the bald eagle as stately, proud, strong, and well,.. aquiline. Among its other stellar attributes, this bird is a survivor. The Bald eagle’s very existence today is one of the crowning achievements of the Endangered Species Act.
It is estimated that there were between 25,000 and 75,000 eagles in the lower 48 in 1782 when it became our national emblem. By 1963 there were just 417 nesting pairs in the lower US, (not counting Alaska).
When the bald eagle was adopted as our national symbol in 1782, there were between 25,000 and 75,000 birds nesting in the lower 48 states. Illegal shooting, habitat destruction, lead poisoning, and the catastrophic effects of DDT contamination in their prey base reduced eagle numbers to a mere 417 pairs by 1963. Legal protection began with the Bald Eagle Protection Act of 1940 and continued with the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 and the 1978 listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The single-most important regulation affecting bald eagle recovery may have been the banning of DDT for most uses in the United States in 1972.
In 1995 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service down-listed bald eagles from endangered to threatened in most of the United States. . In June 2007, the bird’s recovery prompted its removal from the Endangered Species list.
Eagles' aeries are usually large and this is the largest that I have seen. It is located on Langara Island in Haida Gwaii, Canada. The second photo is a close up of the same. Although a bit fuzzy, you can see how huge it is in relation to an adult eagle which stands between 3 and 3.5 feet tall.
A couple of weeks ago I explored a couple of our local salmon spawning rivers, the Nooksack and the Skagit to view the eagles that come here to winter along the rivers and feast on the post-spawning salmon carcasses that line the shore. Although I saw a fair number of bald eagles on these trips, I don’t think I saw enough to say that I saw a Kettle of Eagles as they are called when a group of them soar on a thermal updraft. Nonetheless, in the following diary, I feature the Bald Eagles from our local rivers and add a few shots taken of their brethren from my trips to the north.
The Eagle as revered by Native Americans and other first world citizens.
Native American Indians of all tribes greatly revered the bald eagle as a messenger of the gods and goddesses. They believed that their prayers were conveyed to the gods by eagles. Native Americans admired the strength and courage of the bald eagle. Bald eagle feathers were awarded as symbols of great deeds or heroism for warriors. Other parts of the eagle were used as well. The wing bones were used as tubes to draw out disease and talons served as amulets for protection. Bald eagle feathers were a special part of many Native American cermonies.
Attribution: Flickr Commons
Here are a couple of live shots of an eagle snagging a fish and then taking off for lunch. The fish here is a Black Rockfish (Sebastes melanops).
It should come as no surprise that both eagles and salmon are held sacred in the culture and mythology of the first nations populations of the PNW. Both eagles and Indians were dependent on the salmon for food. It is a bit of a sad case nowadays that many salmon runs are drying up and that it is illegal to possess any part of an eagle unless it was obtained prior to 1940, was handed down to family or tribal members, or was acquired by permit from the National Eagle Repository of eagle parts, which can take up to two to three years to get a whole eagle.
Native Americans were not alone in their reverence for eagles. In ancient Greece it is reported that Zeus sometimes appeared as an eagle when he threw thunderbolts from the sky. In many cultures around the world the eagle has had religious significance, often being considered a messenger of the gods or the creator.
Eagles have been prized much further back than the Greeks according to a recent report by Kate Wong in the February issue of Scientific American. How about Neanderthals?
Sites in France and Italy document a tradition of harvesting eagle talons that spans from 90,000 to 40,000 years ago. Cut marks on the bones show that the Neanderthals focused their efforts on obtaining the claws, not the flesh. This finding led investigators to conclude that the Neanderthals exploited the eagles for symbolic reasons – probably to adorn themselves with the impressive talons – rather than dietary ones.
Further, there is also evidence that they adorned themselves with eagle feathers as well, although it is unknown whether they were worn for some magical purposes or simply for decoration.
Eagles along the Skagit and Nooksack Rivers.
Following are some photos of Eagles along the Skagit and the Nooksack Rivers in Northwest Washington State. These two rivers are fed by the rain, snow, and glaciers of the Cascade Mountain range. They run about 25 miles apart, each meandering through their respective valleys to the Salish Sea (Puget Sound).
Here is one coming down off the mountain and ...
into the valley.
and to the river's edge
to join others
Others just sit in the snags and think about things
some like high perches
Here is a sequence of one coming in for precarious landing..
A couple of juveniles hanging out in a tree
This one is perched above the river and has something draped across the limb that it is on. I can not make out what it is but it might be a well used salmon.
This bird appears to have an injured foot/talon as the right one is hanging in front of the limb on which he is standing. Apparently he is standing on one foot.
If you have not had enough eagles by now, you might try some eagle trivia/facts:
1. Haliaeetus leucocephalu is literally “White- headed Sea-eagle.”
2. This is probably of interest mainly to Seattle Seahawks fans. Their logo depicts the head of an eagle exemplified by its beak and is taken from and consistent with Coastal Native American iconography of the eagle. However, a real “sea-hawk” would most likely be the Osprey.
3. Several eagles soaring skyward in a thermal updraft together is described as a kettle of eagles.
4. Bald eagles lay two and occasionally three eggs that are incubated in turns by both parents, for 34 to 36 days.
5. Once paired, bald eagles remain together until one dies.
6. An eagle’s lifting power is about 4 pounds.
7. Immature eagles are dark, and until they are about five years old, they lack the distinctive white markings that make their parents so easy to identify
8. Eagles’ wingspans range from six and a half to seven and a half feet, while body length varies from about three to three and a half feet.
9. Bald eagles weigh from six to eight pounds. Females are larger than males and have a slightly longer wingspan.
10. Bald eagles have lived up to 48 years in zoos, although their life span in the wild is likely far shorter, more often in the 20 year range.
11. Sorry Ben, you were right on many things, but I really like the Bald Eagle and am proud to have it as our symbol.
"Spotlight on Green News & Views" will be posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time and every Wednesday at 3:30 Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.
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Now It's Your Turn. What have you noted happening in your area or travels? As usual post your observations as well as their general location in the comments.