[Rhodes22-list] Bald Eagles!

[Saroj]

While we are on the subject.  In a tour to see bald eagles in the James
River in Virginia (near Jamestown), we were told that bald eagles have the
ability to fly upside-down.  Apparently they turn upside down and swoop
underneath to grab the prey hanging from the talons of, say, an egrit.  When
our founding fathers were debating on which bird would represent our country
as the national bird, there were many who objected to choosing a bird known
to be a thief.  There was strong support for the peaceful Turkey.  I believe
that Ben Franklin was a turkey supporter.

Saroj
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Grandholm" <paul@mi.chtechnology.com>
To: "The Rhodes 22 mail list" <rhodes22-list@rhodes22.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 05, 2003 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Bald Eagles!


Roger,

     Very interesting message.  Thanks for sharing.  Carol & I took an
Alaska cruise a couple of years ago where there is a plethora of bald
eagles.  When we were in Ketchikan we visited a sanctuary where they take
in injured eagles and nurse them back to health.  There we were told that
bald eagles are actually scavengers and avoid hunting live prey if
possible.  Now I'm confused.  Do you have any thoughts on this?

Paul
>
>Roger,
>
>Eagles are pretty amazing creatures. We have quite a few of them around
>here, so we get to watch them in action quite regularly. It really sucks to
>be the duck, or whatever they've decided is for lunch though. Their aim is
>pretty deadly. Many times we have watched eagles swoop down and pluck fish
>right out of the water and never get more than their feet wet. It's good to
>see they're coming back after a close call with extinction.
>
>Rik
>
>
>At 04:36 PM 2/4/2003 -0500, you wrote:
>>Hi Everybody,
>>
>>I was sitting here at my computer working on some internet job searches
>>when I looked out my window just in time to see a mature male bald eagle
>>land in the tree right above my dock!  I couldn't believe my eyes.  I've
>>lived on Sanford Lake since 1977 & have never seen a bald eagle here until
>>now.  I jumped up to go get my 35 mm camera.  I got back just in time to
>>see a female bald eagle join this male (a nesting pair perhaps?!?).  The
>>female eagle didn't land in the tree.  Instead, she began diving on a
>>flock of about 12 bufflehead ducks, which were in the water feeding on the
>>sandbar about 100 yards off our beach.  The male eagle joined her & you
>>should have seen the ducks scatter in all directions!  My 35 mm camera
>>takes several seconds to boot up from a cold start.  By the time the
>>camera was ready to shoot, the action had moved off down the lake out of
>>range.  I went out on our deck with my binoculars & saw both eagles snare
>>ducks in their talons in mid flight!  They both flew off with a duck in
>>their talons in same southerly direction down the lake!  It was totally
cool.
>>
>>Roger Pihlaja
>>S/V Dynamic Equilibrium
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>
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========================
Paul Grandholm
C&H Technology
GrandPower Components Div.
========================
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