Dear tweeters, I was just talking to a friend from West Seattle who was
sitting and gazing out at the sound on a still day "about a week and half ago"
when he suddenly heard the loud crack of a tree branch breaking. He whipped
around to see an Eagle carrying a huge branch, which it took to the nest.
Then for the next hour he watched the Eagle pair collect branches. First
they'd land on a tree and pick and inspect a branch. Then they'd take off and
fly up and around and back toward the branch, but this time approaching the
branch at speed, hitting it and breaking it off without ever slowing down. My
friend was assured by residents of the house there that they also lift
branches off the ground, after inspecting and pruning them. Stooping at
branches may be something people have seen before, (Martin Muller?) but as for
me, I always assumed that Eagles simply found branches.
PS. This is probably off limits, but wouldn't a yes on 696 save a few Murres
and Puffins, among other species--and isn't this a pretty important issue that
some Tweeters might know a lot about?
-Ed Newbold Beacon Hill newboldwildlife at netscape.net


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