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Eagles !!!

3K views 10 replies 5 participants last post by  Pat Bahan 
#1 ·
Sometimes we get bumbed out over the negative things we see and fight, and fail to notice the good. Last week I had a real treat. I had SIX bald eagles on my pond. They were on the ice. They were picking trapped fish out of the ice for an easy lunch. When I was a kid (back in the 50s &60s) We never saw an eagle here in South-central Indiana. In recent decades they have made a comeback and I have a pair which frequent my ponds in the summer, but 6!!! WOW!!! :chuckle:
As another aside, I would also mention that we have more waterfowl now, here in south central In., than we have had since the early 1900s. And our wild turkey population is doing great. When I was a kid I read and dreamed about hunting turkey, but didn't really think we would ever have them here again. :smokin:
Now if we could just get rid of a few dam(n)s.....:hehe: :hehe:
 
#2 ·
Very cool... I remember the first time I heard an eagle from a cliff on the coast of the north Olympic Peninsula. What a sound... one day years after leaving the PNW and in the hustle and shuffle of a busy life I forgot what they sounded like. About got onto a plane right there and then!
 
#4 ·
Growing up in Pennsylvania and visiting upstate New York a lot to see relatives in the late 50's and 60's (I was born in 1953) I never saw a bald eagle. When I moved to Montana at age 15, I say bald eagles, in fact, I saw several hundred that congregate each fall in the area between Canyon Ferry Reservoir and Hauser Dam just outside of Helena, MT.

I've also seen many golden eagles, which are bigger than the bald eagle, in Montana. Their favarite food is Rocky Mountain ground squirrel.

Now I get to see them from November on into April on the Skagit (my home river in the winter since I live in the Skagit Valley). There is still nothing quite like seeing one of these very majestic birds. I've seen as many as 35 of them on a gravel bar on the opposite side of the river from me, some perched, some eating salmon carcasses, some simply standing on the beach.

The banning a DDT has allowed these great birds to return to their historic range and reestablish viable populations. The DDT used to make their egg shells both thin and brittle. This caused the eaglets to never become hatchlings because the egg shells would bread before they were developed beyong the embyo. Now 35 years after DDT use was banned in the U.S. and Canada, the bald eagle has returned. Sure took a long time to get sufficient amounts of DDT out of the environment to allow this to happen.
 
#5 ·
'53 was a VERY good year! Montana was my real intro to eagles also. Spent most of '76 in Deer Lodge, after completing 3 yrs of active duty. I worked first shift and got off at 2:00pm often jumping in the Jimmy and heading up into the mountains for the evening. We had some resident goldens and one pair of baldies that I was on a first name basis with. Course, they could have been cussing me and I was to dumb to know the difference.:hehe:
 
#6 ·
Pat,

I know the Deer Lodge area well. My favorite water in that part of Montana is the Upper Clark Fork below the ponds and Flint Creek. I used to fish the Upper Clark Fork 3 or 4 evenings a week for the 4 years I lived in Boulder. A fellow sure gets spoiled trout fishing in Montana.
 
#8 ·
I saw my first Bald Eagle this past week-end whilst Kayaking at Croton Point on the Hudson. Pretty cool given that Manhattan is less than an hour to the South!
 
#10 ·
Pat,

Those private spring creeks in the Upper Clark Fork valley are indeed little gems. The amazing thing to me is that they have not been exploited by the ranch owners like the famous ones in Paradise Valley outside of Livingston. I'm very glad that the Upper Clark Fork ranchers have not exploited them.

One of my favorite creeks in the area was the large creek in the valley between Deer Lodge and Rock Creek. It is mostly on private land; but I found the ranch owners very willing to grant permission to fish it if you were courteous and asked. I'm sure you know which creek I'm refering to and its identity shall remain unspoken by me because I don't want to see it over run with fisher folk.

Adrian,

Glad to hear you saw your first Bald Eagle. They are truly majestic birds.
 
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