America: Symbolism vs Realism

[DeaC]

Originally Posted by Dusty Ol' Man

We have both here in the Gulf South. I get to see the ospreys fishing regularly. And the occasional bald eagle comes around as well. Though I've never heard of an eagle, bald or otherwise, eating roadkill. They are hunters, not scavengers.

National Wildlife Fed. says they're opportunistic predators AND scavengers. Have seen such in AK.

[DirtyCoconuts]

straight up dumpster diving in AK

[estación seca]

I have to admit I've pulled cactus trimmings out of other people's trash piles.

[voyager]

Got no eagles around here - Hawaii, but ...

Spent 35 years in various areas of AK.
Bald Eagles everywhere, especially in the Aleutians.
They'd winter there feeding on fish processors' effluvium.
When they replaced the old bait fish in the cold storage warehouse, we'd throw the old frozen fish out into the
water.
They'd swoop down and scoop the fish up while we threw fish for hours.
Not much to do with spare time in the Aleutians.

Used to sit on the deck of my condo in Anchorage watching the eagles perched in the trees.
Every once in a while one would swoop down and snag a cat or small dog.
I never kept pets in AK.

Which reminds me of the time I stopped for gas in Glennallen.
A motor-home with tourists had also stopped.
A gal with her small yappy dog and her husband got out.
An eagle swooped down, snagged the dog and flew away.
She screamed and hollered.
Her hubby looked as if he was pretty happy about it.

Almost forgot, in the Aleutians driving out an old dirt road along a narrow canyon, stopped to look at an eagles' nest with 2 young birds on the cliff wall across the small creek.
I stopped to take a look and was hit hard on my head.
I was too close to the nest and was attacked by a protective parent bird.

There, those are the highlights of my eagle stories.

EDIT:


Bald Eagles and Osprey are fish eagles.
Fish are their natural and preferred prey.
Never seen an Osprey do anything other than fish.
I have seen Bald Eagles take birds and small mamals.
They are noted for occasionally taking Dall Sheep lambs.

Gold Eagles are a land bird.
I've only seen them in AK's interior.
They feed on land animals, and probably on fish if the opportunity arises.

[WaterWitchin]

Voyager, you just made me spit coffee on the keyboard! Delightful stories. The ones about snatching small dogs reminded me of a Gary Larson style cartoon. Then splursh went the coffee!

[DirtyCoconuts]

hahaha i hate the idea of people losing pets but that is still a funny scene!

i was trying to fish off a dock in Ketchikan and i was constantly harassed to the point where is had to stop fishing because there was four or five eagles just hopping closer and closer to me. i was at the end of the dock and i felt like i was being herded to be pushed in!!

they are big LOL

[Dorchid]

We had golden eagles on our farm in CO….they are massive (largest in NA). They take a few seconds to get off the ground which is pretty cool to see. Their nests are equally massive. There are a couple on a ridge above a lake and the poudre river where I often fish in our town.



Link on article and better pic quality: Watson lake | BigShots Now

[Mountaineer370]

I've been fortunate enough to have seen a good number of bald eagles, both right around my own home in SE Michigan, as well as on numerous trips up north or out of state. They are both predators and scavengers. I've seen them eating roadkill. Not very "majestic" but I guess no one told them. When you're hungry and an opportunity presents itself, you take advantage.

My most memorable sighting was on a trip to the Yellowstone area. We were on a road outside of the park, driving along a narrow arm of Hebgen Lake. The water level was down quite a ways from the elevation of the road, and a bald eagle was flying along over the water, so as I was looking out the passenger window of the truck, the eagle was at my eye level, maybe around 50 feet away, and seemed to be matching our speed until the road curved away from the water and we lost sight of it.

I also love ospreys! Every time we've been to Yellowstone, one of the highlights for me was watching the ospreys fishing in the rivers. I've also seen ospreys on their nests in a couple of local parks around me, always near a body of water.

I believe I've only ever seen one golden eagle, and that was in Utah.

[WaterWitchin]

Originally Posted by Dorchid

We had golden eagles on our farm in CO….they are massive (largest in NA). They take a few seconds to get off the ground which is pretty cool to see. Their nests are equally massive. There are a couple on a ridge above a lake and the poudre river where I often fish in our town.

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Link on article and better pic quality: Watson lake | BigShots Now

Ooooohhh! Poudre river! We used to road trip every year to Colorado. Always camped along Poudre River, then over to Red Feather Lakes. Dad and I were fishin' fools! Excellent memories....