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Saw a Bald Eagle today

MellowViperMellowViper
edited November 2010 in General Banter
Yah, it was really cool. I was walking through the woods, and I startled some bird, and I looked over and realized it was a bald eagle gliding away from my direction into the distance,over a ravine, to another tree. It was very majestic, and I wish I could have gotten a picture. Has anyone else seen one in the wild?

Comments

  • nanadhajananadhaja Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Cool.Are they that rare in the wild?If so,is there some program to re introduce them?
  • robotrobot Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Where I live on the west coast they are everywhere. I saw about a hundred of them on a beach once during herring season. I was totally amazed. I've seen them kill seagulls and I saw one swim about a hundred yards once. Pretty clumsy swimmers. They are always magnificent though, no matter how many you see.
  • MellowViperMellowViper
    edited November 2010
    nanadhaja wrote: »
    Cool.Are they that rare in the wild?If so,is there some program to re introduce them?

    I'm not sure. Maybe they're reintroducing more of them, and that's why I saw one finally. Its America's national bird. It would be stupid if they didn't.
  • MellowViperMellowViper
    edited November 2010
    robot wrote: »
    Where I live on the west coast they are everywhere. I saw about a hundred of them on a beach once during herring season. I was totally amazed. I've seen them kill seagulls and I saw one swim about a hundred yards once. Pretty clumsy swimmers. They are always magnificent though, no matter how many you see.

    That's cool. Is this up in Washington? A friend of mine went to school at Evergreen and said he saw some.
  • robotrobot Veteran
    edited November 2010
    No I live in B.C. when I saw the crowd of them it was farther up north in the central coast.
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Thankfully, thanks to the banning of DDT and their protected status, the North American Bald Eagle has made a dramatic comeback in the wild. I live at the upper end of the Potomac River watershed, and there are actually *more* pairs of eagles than the ecosystem can support, so they're having to relocate some of them.

    There's nothing more inspiring than seeing such a magnificent bird in the wild. When I was a veterinary technician, I had the amazing experience of handling an adult male (who had been shot with an arrow, if you can believe there is someone that stupid in the world) while we anesthetized him for surgery. One of the more awesome (in the truest sense of the word) experiences I've ever had.

    I've also had the equally amazing experience of soaring with one. Well, I flatter myself. He was soaring, and I was making a feeble attempt to keep up with him in a thermal while flying an aluminum glider. Needless to say, he left me in the dust, but it was still very cool!

    Congrats on your sighting...
  • ZaylZayl Veteran
    edited November 2010
    I've seen precious few of them here in Michigan. The are a very proud and majestic looking bird, and have a personality to match.
  • TreeLuvr87TreeLuvr87 Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Mountains wrote: »
    Thankfully, thanks to the banning of DDT and their protected status, the North American Bald Eagle has made a dramatic comeback in the wild. I live at the upper end of the Potomac River watershed, and there are actually *more* pairs of eagles than the ecosystem can support, so they're having to relocate some of them.

    There's nothing more inspiring than seeing such a magnificent bird in the wild. When I was a veterinary technician, I had the amazing experience of handling an adult male (who had been shot with an arrow, if you can believe there is someone that stupid in the world) while we anesthetized him for surgery. One of the more awesome (in the truest sense of the word) experiences I've ever had.

    I've also had the equally amazing experience of soaring with one. Well, I flatter myself. He was soaring, and I was making a feeble attempt to keep up with him in a thermal while flying an aluminum glider. Needless to say, he left me in the dust, but it was still very cool!

    Congrats on your sighting...

    I want to hear so many more of your stories.

    I didn't realize that they weren't very rare here, and I saw my first one in the wild last year at Westmoreland State Park, on the banks of the Potomac. I don't know that I've ever seen anything more graceful than the way it was gliding around the cliffs. OP, glad for your experience!
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Tree - thanks. You may not see them as frequently as, say, sparrows, but there are a goodly number of them in our part of the world. All over the east coast in fact.

    And Zayl - in Michigan too. I grew up in Michigan, and I've seen a number of them, particularly in the northern part of the lower peninsula. Haven't spent much time in "da UP, eh", but I know they're there as well.

    The Bald Eagle is one of the major success stories of EPA regulation of chemicals and cooperative conservation. It just goes to show what we *can* do if we want to. It's just sad that many birds, not being quite as splashy as the Bald Eagle, don't generate the same enthusiasm. If we'd put the yellow rumped warbler on the Great Seal of the US instead of the eagle, maybe we'd be more concerned about their impending extinction than we are.
  • TreeLuvr87TreeLuvr87 Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Funny that I was reading this thread last week, because I saw one myself on Friday at work. Right here on the military base, soaring straight down the flight line just before a few F-22s took off. Pretty neat moment.
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Ah, the majesty of the yellow rumped warbler soaring down the flight line :)
  • JoshuaJoshua Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Zayl wrote: »
    I've seen precious few of them here in Michigan. The are a very proud and majestic looking bird, and have a personality to match.

    Wow, really? I lived in Michigan for awhile and now I live near the border in Indiana. Where have you seen these?

    ..

    robot,
    Ass.
  • robotrobot Veteran
    edited November 2010
    How come?
  • JoshuaJoshua Veteran
    edited November 2010
    I'm no good with mudita.

    I'm throwing a temper tantrum.

    Where I'm from I'm cool because I seen one once when I was little. Big deal to the robot ;)
  • robotrobot Veteran
    edited November 2010
    You need to make trip out west. I've seen so many whales, I'm sick of em.lol
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited November 2010
    You'll probably see more baldies up north than you will down by the Indiana border. They are never far from water. But they're to be found across the area there.
  • JoshuaJoshua Veteran
    edited November 2010
    Damn. The biggest water source here is Lake Manitou. I get to see ducks and swans fortunately heh. I'm actually not too close to the border.
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