Eagles starving in Canada

Now we know why there are new roosting sites in Oregon. Linn County has over 100 Bald Eagles roosting at a site over the past few weeks. They've also been seen in very large numbers where lambing is taking place.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/starving-eagles-falling-out-of-the-sky/article1918336/

Tiger,
Thanks for sharing the news...SOOOOOOOOOOOOO heartbreaking! I needed a box of tissues to be able to finish reading the entire article...I'm speechless and very sad :(

This message was edited Feb 25, 2011 11:22 PM

I agree SusanLouise. It left me speechless, also. How many other species are affected? I saw a documentary on the salmon runs, and how vital they were to the entire biosystem, right down to providing nutrients via fertilizer from the decaying bodies. I think of an Albert Einstein quote (to the best of my memory) - I know of two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not sure about the universe.

Looks like Bald Eagle has reached its sustainable population in the area. This, and the fighting eagles in the other thread, have this in common.

History is a heavy period of first, human persecution, and second, persistent organochlorine pesticide poisoning. This left Bald Eagle numbers at a very low level. Once these problems were sorted, the birds had very good survival (plenty of food, no nasty neighbours to worry about), so the population rose. But now it has reached the limit of what the habitat can take, and density-dependent mortality starts - birds dying because they can't find enough food, or because they're being attacked by existing pairs defending their territories.

As long as populations stay high, incidents like these will become the main causes of Bald Eagle mortality. Don't be surprised to hear of more.

Resin