308 : Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus

I popped into Tofino yesterday afternoon to do a bit of shopping and this handsome bird was sat in a tree near to the Co-Op. That's the UK equivalent of a Golden Eagle sat on a contoneaster outside of Tescos or in UAE terms where I live a Great Spotted Eagle sat on a palm tree next to Spinney's. It gets better - I had ran down the road from the little car park as I had seen two birds fly off into the distance. A couple of minutes before I had been wondering, out loud unfortunately like a ranting mad birder whether this was the best shot I was going to achieve of these wonderful eagles.

The Bald Eagle is doing well along the North West coast of the American continent with perhaps 100,000 birds in British Columbia and Alaska. Compare that to main part of the US where there are possibly only 4,000 birds in all (a rise from just 1,118 birds counted in 1980). Clearly these eagles were heavily persecuted, shot a competing fisherman. In Alaska a bounty was placed on the birds and 150,000 were shot between 1900 and 1945. It does make you wonder why a nation would choose to adopt such a magnificent bird to appear on flags, coins, crests and so on but simultaneously blast it from every inch of its skies. I seem to remember that it appears on a carpet in the oval office. I wonder if Reagan ever bothered to ask how many were left in 1980. I expect Jimmy Carter would have.

So these birds feed on birds (waterfowl) as well as fish. Huge numbers gather to feed on the dying salmon after the spawning runs - gatherings of 1000' s of birds in certain rivers. I went zip lining yesterday down the Fraser River canyon and our guide told us that the river system is considered "dead" as there are only currently 400 spawning salmon making the run. A cannery had been situated at the end of the river that fed half of the caught salmon for North America at one point. There must have been millions of salmon taken out of the river. I didn't see any fish as I zipped down the river.

As well s fish the eagles take birds and will knock a whole Canada Goose out of the air. That must be a sight. I am off whale watching today - I am looking forward to trying to see Orcas and Grey Whales in particular. Fingers crossed they are just floating off the maritime equivalent of Sainsbury somewhere.

I am not sure why Bald Eagles are bald - I will leave that as a mystery to be googled another time.

Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus Leucocephalus
Tofino, Vancouver Island, British Columbia
3 August 2014