After today there may not be any photographs for a week or so, for while I’ll bring them with me to the UK, I may not have time to post them. Posting in general will also be light. As Maru says, “I do my best.”
Today we have another sequence of birds nomming mammals, but this time it’s bald eagles, with the photos sent by reader Jacob Harrington. His notes:
These pictures were taken with a motion sensor camera (field cam) at my parent’s apple orchard near Hayward, WI in March of 2012. Every winter/spring my father gathers fresh roadkill (whitetail deer) and places them in one of the fields where the deer are clearly visible to the eagles overhead. After about 10-15 years of this ‘feeding’, we believe the eagles have remembered this specific migratory route in the hills of northwest Wisconsin where they gather along the perimeter of the field in the tall oaks. As many as 20 bald eagles have perched along the tree line taking turns feeding on the deer!
My father has his bachelor’s degree in Biology from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks. He has worked with the Fish & Wildlife Service in Alaska. He has worked for the DNR in Wisconsin. According to the Department of the Interior, Fish & Wildlife Service, 50 CFR Part 22 (Protection of Eagles; Definition of “Disturb”). Rules & Regulations state “ Disturb means to agitate, or bother a bald or golden eagle to the degree that interferes with or interrupts normal breeding, feeding, or sheltering habits, causing injury, death, or nest abandonment. So we understand the “feeding” to be ethical and true to spirit of providing some token of gratitude.
Nice pictures! Very cool to have the wildlife camera out there to record it!
That’s very interesting, thanks! Some of those eagles better watch out because they are clearly agitating each other, LOL.
Well, if Jacob distributes business cards for “wildlife issues” lawyers around the carcasses … win, win. For both wings.
Do debating birds say “on the one talon … on the other talon…”?
I thought my backyard bird feeder setup was cool until I saw this.
Hahaha, so funny… 🙂
Very good. It is well known that bald eagles will regularly nom carrion, and while doing so they will have some tolerance toward each other.
An excellent idea considering all the deer killed on the roads. Just takes someone willing to do a little work. Surprised if they don’t get competition from the buzzards.
Yeah – good on your dad for doing this Jacob! He’s surely reduced stress in the birds because of them not feeding on the roads, and probably saved lives too.
Probably, as Heather says, has saved considerable bird lives, just by moving them away from the traffic.
Fabulous pictures!
Very interesting. Thanks