Hello Tweeters,
I only hope that the RARE ICELAND GULL what hangs out on the Simpson Plant
in Tacoma dont fall prey to the Bald Eagles what are close by in the
Sound.The Gull was doing fine this afternoon swimming in the water and
walking on the beach on a low tide. The Paking Lot is blocked of with
yellow tape.

Ruth Sullivan
Tacoma
godwit at worldnet.att.net

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From: Ed Newbold <newboldwildlife at netscape.net>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Bald Eagle
Date: Monday, January 24, 2000 9:01 PM

Hi All, I saw a Bald get a Bufflehead on the water in 3 energetic stoops,
being hassled all the while by a Peregrine (Samish). I've heard of them
taking Gyrs & Peregrines (third hand), and visitors at my booth have told
me
about Eagles getting Canada Geese, Raven, cats and stealing from a harbor
seal
that was playing with it's prey. They've also described seeing eagles
getting
gulls successfully three ways, the rollover, the hit on the water followed
by
holding the gull under the water, and the falconoid stoop in air.

For the sake of truth, not patriotism, it is probably incumbent upon us
birders to help the public do serious revisionism on its views about the
Bald
Eagle. I used to hold the popular view, once expounded upon at length by
Eric
Lacitas, that the Bald was a big untalented loafer. What turned me around
most was a discussion with falconer Brian Sullivan from Spokane. Brian
reminded me that in the bad old days when they gunned down eagles from
helicopters in west Texas, the pilots couldn't catch the Balds, only the
Goldens, because the Balds were too agile. He characterized Golden Eagles
as
primarily mammal hunters in areas that can have still air and very low prey
density (areas like the desert southwest). Thus the Golden, whose major
job
is reconaissance and combat, is a superb soarer and may be dominant when
the
two species meet at a deer carcass. Bald Eagles, on the other hand, tend
to
live in areas that have high prey density and can be regularly windy. Thus
they have little need for soaring skills, and are built instead for
flapping
flight and agility. Notice how Balds fly so often under power and
sometimes
the wings move so fast they seem to twinkle like a Peregrine's. Anyone who
has seen a big 13-pound female Bald turn on the afterburners and chase an
Osprey has probably had to involuntarily gulp.
I'm thrilled to see Bald Eagles regaining there place in North
America--but
slightly worried that people have a tendency to underestimate all avian
predators, this one in particular.
Tweeter by digest, Ed Newbold Beacon Hill Seattle
newboldwildlife at netscape.net

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