Bald Eagles, Surviving the Winter with a Little Help from Some Friends

Bald Eagles, Surviving the Winter with a Little Help from Some Friends

I was reading Facebook tonight and noticed a link to an article in the Green Bay Press Gazette by Ron Zimmer about Eagles congregating near the many paper mills along the rivers in the Fox Valley.

The eagles are gathering here because it is about the only place around where you can find open water this time of year.

Eagles are not the stealthy hunters that some of our other raptors are and seldom get by hunting in the forests and meadows like many hawks and owls do, they have other skills and limitations due to their size and flying patterns. 

Eagles depend on fish for much of their diet, along with road kills and an occasional bird that they snatch from the air.

This article reminded me of the other places that we see eagles this time of year. 

First of all it is no surprise to see them hunkered down enjoying a recently killed deer by the side of the road, but the other place surprised me the first time that I saw it.

We were in northern Minnesota doing a Goshawk survey for the Minnesota DNR and I kept noticing Eagles congregating on the lakes, just sitting there looking like large dogs waiting on the ice.

I thought it seemed strange until a while later when my son Nick who was in junior high at the time and working for me during his spring break told me of his day’s adventure one night.

Nick had been crossing a large lake (about 2 by 6 miles) when an eagle came swooping down, brushed his hat and landed on the ice near him.  Then it proceeded to follow along after him until he got to the forest on the other side of the lake. 

Of course he was a startled by this and really curious about what was going on until he finished his plots and headed back across the lake and met a fisherman getting ready to start fishing.

This fisherman had another visitor already when Nick stopped to talk with him.  Every time the fisherman jiggled his pole the eagle got excited, jumping and fidgeting and staring at the hole in the ice and at the fisherman, waiting for a treat, just like a dog would do.

When Nick talked to him about nearly getting hit by a landing eagle, the fisherman told him that they are constant companions on the ice, knowing that fishermen will give them a few fish.

The eagles have certainly been domesticated this time of year, knowing that humans are not their enemies, but rather a good source of food and protection to make it through a winter that could be a death sentence without them.

Photo credits, By matthew hull and Penywise in the morgue files

and Woodland Management Service

A few other articles to check out.

•  http://activerain.com/blogsview/3770480/faq-how-do-i-encourage-more-wildlife-on-my-land-
•  http://activerain.com/blogsview/4248834/faq-i-am-looking-for-a-deer-haven-which-property-should-i-choose-
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