Eagles, Eagles, Eagles!!

So as many of you know, I got my degree in wildlife science. It took 5 years of school for me to get it, and during that time, along with the years prior when I was always INTERESTED in wildlife, and along with all the jobs I spent outdoors, I NEVER saw a bald eagle. Not one. (Ok, in a zoo yes, but that doesn't count.) I was always so determined to find one that I probably created a sort of "Murphy's Law" for myself.... because I was determined to see one, I never saw one. Plus, most of the summers in my life were spent in the High Sierras, where not many bald eagles go (golden eagles, yes). It wasn't until I graduated and took a job out of Newport, OR (tracking gray whales of all things) that I had my first encounters with bald eagles. And then it was daily.

But now, as you all know, I work on a bird refuge, and right now we have over 145 bald eagles on site!! They are everywhere. They fly south for the winter from Alaska and Canada, and out of the approximate 1,200 bald eagles that winter in Utah, our refuge, Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area, gets about 30% of those. So we normally see between 200 and 400 by February. Although the refuge is primarily a waterfowl refuge, it just happens to be a place that the baldies use. Especially because our water systems have carp, which the eagles LOVE.

The reason bald eagles migrate south for the winter is first and foremost for food. It gets so cold up north, that their water systems freeze over, and their primary source of food is fish, so they come where they can access it. Yes, our waters are frozen most of the winter as well, but there are still channels where the water is flowing through where they can access them. Here are some shots I got yesterday.





The image below is still a bald eagle; it is actually a juvenile bald eagle. They don't get complete white head and tail and complete brown feathers on the body until they reach about 5 years of age. And this is probably the prettiest one I have seen so far. I just loved this one's coloring.

Interesting facts about bald eagles:

• They have a wingspan of 6-8 feet.
• They are only 11 to 12.5 lbs, females being larger than the males.
• They became our National Emblem in 1782, in lieu of the wild turkey, which Ben Franklin wanted as the Nation's bird.
• Their primary food source is fish, although they do eat rodents, snakes, carrion, and small birds. They have even been known to take domestic cats.
• In the wild they can live up to 30 years old.
• They were taken off the Endangered Species List in 2007 after being endangered or threatened for 40 years. Their decrease in numbers in the 20th century was due to DDT, a pesticide that through biomagnification (more concentrated up the food chain) thinned their egg shells so they could not withstand the weight of the adult. They are still highly protected under several protection acts.