Inside the Outdoors: Lives of eagles, ducks entwined
This is also a good information about eagles… hopefully you all like it. I guess it is a different perspective…
(resource:http://www.pineandlakes.com
/stories /101206/opinion_20061012035.shtml)
By Mike Rahn
So too, it seems, is the bald eagle. Earlier this year the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a request for public comment on its proposal to remove the bald eagle from the federal Endangered Species List. Such proposals are not always given final approval. Regardless of biological data, politics and emotion sometimes enter the equation. We’ll have to wait and see. But bald eagles seem to be recovering, and that’s good news whatever we call their status.
What brought this to mind was the recent publishing of comments directed to the USFWS by the staff of the University of Minnesota’s Raptor Rehabilitation Center. The Rehab Center is a place where many injured or sick raptors, from hawks to owls to eagles, have been “patched up” and – in most cases – given a second chance to survive in the wild. If anyone cares about the future of eagles and other raptors, these folks do; they – notably – support the USFWS’s proposal to remove the bald eagle from the Endangered Species List.
Gone, happily, are the days when bald eagles were routinely shot because of their supposed predation on farm stock. They are much less the predator, and much more the scavenger, than the golden eagle of the West. Gone, too, are the days of poor to nonexistent reproductive success, caused by such now-banned agricultural pesticides as DDT.
Today eagles’ eggs are more likely to produce live offspring. Eagles remain protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918 (the same act that governs duck and goose management), so they can’t be shot as humans see fit. And, just as important, the attitude of most humans toward eagles is one of reverence, rather than vengeance.
Their numbers are expanding, as many Minnesotans know. Some estimate the U.S. population at 8,000 breeding pairs. The Mississippi River corridor in Southeast Minnesota was once thought of as a unique place to view bald eagles. It still offers large concentrations of these birds at certain times of the year. But bald eagles are a much more common sight elsewhere in Minnesota, too, and in the rest of the “lower 48.”
They’re even seen amid the “urban jungle” of the Twin Cities, having accustomed themselves to coexisting with humans, just like peregrine falcons, which now can be seen riding the thermal updrafts that rise amid the canyons of metropolitan skyscrapers, as well as in their natural wild environs.
Near my home here in North Central Minnesota, I see eagles frequently in the vicinity of the Mississippi, and over some of our larger lakes. And each time I visit one of my favorite trout streams I pass an eagle’s nest that rests on a platform high above the ground, supported by two electric power line poles. Like wood ducks that nest in boxes, and Canada geese that nest on man-made platforms in our shallow lakes, bald eagles are beginning to get some well-deserved payback in nesting assistance.
One of my most unforgettable hunting experiences involves a bald eagle. Hunting ducks on the one of the lakes within the Tamarac National Wildlife Refuge, my hunting companion had just dropped a bird out of a flock of divers; a redhead, we were quite sure. We were preparing to push our boat out through the decoys, start the motor and retrieve it, when we paused to watch an eagle soaring in our direction.
Our sense of awe turned to dumbstruck, as we watched it drop to the water’s surface, grasp “our” limp duck in its talons, and fly off. Later, describing this unprecedented behavior to the refuge manager, she reacted without surprise. Ours was not the first such tale of eagles’ duck thievery she had heard.
It made perfect sense. Anyplace where ducks are being hunted, there are likely to be birds down and drifting on the water, either until they are retrieved, or when lost as cripples. Eagles are unlikely to be shot at by hunters, particularly within a refuge. What a perfect setup for an eagle!
Interestingly, among the public comments to the USFWS on its proposal to lift endangered species status were references linking the decline in bald eagle numbers to unrestricted duck hunting before the enactment of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918. Apparently, there has long been a connection between the welfare of one, and the welfare of the other.
Lull time for duck hunters
The famous, make that infamous, “lull” between the duck season’s opening days and the hoped-for influx of new arrivals driven by changing weather, is upon us. Depending on where you hunted, your assessment of the early days of the 2006 season might range from “great” to “poor.”
This is nothing new. As they say in the real estate business, the three most important things are “location, location and location.” And, equally apropos, “timing is everything.” That just about sums up duck hunting. But, there are credible signs that this year there have been fewer glum hunters at this point in the season than the past couple of years.
I’ve heard everything from “excellent” to “didn’t see a bird” in the days following the opener. The usual mix of bluewing teal, wood ducks, ringbills (ringnecks) and mallards seems to remain true to other years. Redheads have also been mentioned, particularly – at least among those I’ve spoken to – farther north and west.
We can now expect most bluewing teal to be gone, with the bulk of wood ducks not far behind them. This, as the DNR has been pointing out, is particularly true in areas of high hunting pressure, unless there are refuge waters nearby where the birds can find some peace and quiet.
Serious duck hunters, as optimistic a group of outdoorsmen as you can find, hope each year for that influx of new birds several weeks into the season. Sometimes it happens, and the hunting can be excellent; other times it seems a mere trickle, at best. Only time will tell us which one we’ll have this year.