Within the past few years bald eagles have begun to re-populate our little neck of the woods. It seems they are finally making a comeback. The bald eagle is the only eagle unique to North America....and half of the bald eagles in North America reside in Alaska. They can be found as far south as Mexico. We heard of an eagle's nest not too far away so Friday after work, Mom, Dad, and I headed out to go see it.
As usual, the pictures really don't do it justice....Dad using his binoculars....
Did you know that eagle's nests can be up to five feet in diameter? They also use the same nest year after year and the big ones can get up to 9 feet in diameter and weigh two tons!! If the nest falls out of the tree or the tree falls over, they simply build another one near the original site. (Can you tell I've been doing some research? I like my 'readers' to be informed) Eagles mate for life and usually raise between 1-3 young at a time. This particular nest was very large and made out of huge sticks....it was maybe the size of a child's play pool.
They always build the nests near a river or coast. We couldn't see into the nest or see any eaglets...but hopefully we have some eggs in there! Both the male and female take equal parts in rearing the young.
So after we left the nest, not too far away we found one of the adults who probably 'owns' the nest....
An adult eagle weighs up to 14 pounds and their wing span can be up to 7.5 feet! They truly are amazing....and good news, they were taken off the endangered species list in 2007! They eat mostly fish and some dead/decaying flesh. Yum.... No one knows for sure what led to the decline in the eagle population....human encroachment on their habitat, hunting, etc....but the use of DDT as a pesticide is the main suspect. DDT was banned back in the '70's and it has taken eagles 30 years to rebound.
Welcome back Bald Eagles!
No comments:
Post a Comment