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--Apple-Mail=_FF599F9C-3051-477D-A6A9-2FE4DB86110F Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Begin forwarded message: > From: Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> > Subject: good shows of eagles getting fed (guess what?) > Date: February 18, 2015 at 6:03:34 PM AST > To: Nature BNS <nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca>, "Jim Wolford ." = <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> > Cc: Gharrett Patrick Paon <gharrett@arcadiacontent.com>, Richard = Hennigar <hennigar@xcountry.tv>, Mark Elderkin <elderkmf@gov.ns.ca> >=20 > FEB. 18, 2016 (Wed.) - Another very cold day (ca. -10 C.), but = thankfully very little wind. I had to show some videographers from = Halifax (Gharrett Paon, Doug Graham (photographer), and Colin ? with = Arcadia Content from Halifax) the =93lay of the land=94 re overwintering = bald eagles at Sheffield Mills and elsewhere this morning. We had an = early meeting time at the Irving Big Stop, but they were almost an hour = late, and I had almost given up on them. >=20 > This actually crazily worked out pretty well, since we drove out to = the north end of Middle Dyke Road and still got there well in advance of = the feeding of the chicken carcasses (from overnight daily mortalities = in the big poultry barns (the Swetnam brothers have six of these barns). = Young William Swetnam, a nephew, delivered two big pails of carcasses = at 9:40 a.m. (Apparently usually this feeding occurs sometime between 9 = and 10 a.m. every morning during the winter.) >=20 > Before the delivery, only about 10 eagles, plus a few ravens, were = quietly perched in field-edge trees, and 2 great black-backed gulls were = on the ground at the feeding site. But very soon after the delivery, = the eagles began flying back and forth and swooping toward the very = fresh offal. Soon there were 10 or more eagles on the ground and = squabbling, since the carcasses were all in a small area (but they were = soon spread a bit by the eagles and later pieces carried to the trees). >=20 > Soon after the food delivery, the eagle population doubled to 20+, = with the extras arriving mostly from the west, as far as I could tell. = We saw at least 2 red-tailed hawks, and the numbers of ravens and crows = grew too. The feeding was basically all finished 20 minutes after it = began. But the videographers went on photographing the eagles in the = trees etc. for a while, and seemed to be quite happy with what footage = they got. The sky was overcast, and it never got sunny at all until = after 11 a.m. >=20 > We all drove south and west, along Canard Road, alias Hwy. 341, past = the old Canard Poultry Plant, which I understand is now a = mink-processing facility? We crossed Hwy. 358 and were able to get just = far enough on lower Canard Rd. to see the conspicuous bald eagle nest = south of the road. >=20 > Then back to Hwy. 358 and southward toward Port Williams. On our = approach to Church Street just before 11 a.m., we blundered into a much = bigger show of 60+ bald eagles being fed chickens behind a long poultry = building just east of the corner and very visible from the road, where = lots of groups of eagles were perched in trees and flying and landing, = along with at least 3 red-tailed hawks plus ravens and crows. On the = ground were 30+ eagles, mostly adults but with quite a few immatures, = plus another group of 10 eagles on the ground, plus several perched = groups we could see, some of them quite close to us. A young woman who = owned a small house next to the road allowed us to approach one group of = perched eagles quite closely (King=92s County eagles can be very = tolerant of gawking and clicking humans). >=20 > Thus a lot more footage was captured by the very expensive camera (and = big and heavy with tripod) they had rented. >=20 > Finally, we drove east along Lower Church Street for about a kilometre = to see another local bald eagle nest, this one essentially right over = the road in a big tree. This gang wants to put together a documentary = on the whole bald eagle=92s life cycle, including the nesting including = courtship, nest-building (which goes on all the time but especially in = early spring), eggs, nestlings, fledglings, hunting & fishing), = dispersal & migration, etc. >=20 > They dropped me off back at the Big Stop, and then after lunch they = planned on some more scouting and shooting film? > =97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97 >=20 > Cheers from Jim in Wolfville. --Apple-Mail=_FF599F9C-3051-477D-A6A9-2FE4DB86110F Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Type: text/html; charset=windows-1252 <html><head><meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html = charset=3Dwindows-1252"></head><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; = -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: = after-white-space;"><br><div style=3D""><br><div>Begin forwarded = message:</div><br class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote = type=3D"cite"><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span = style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>From: = </b></span><span style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica';">Jim Wolford <<a = href=3D"mailto:jimwolford@eastlink.ca">jimwolford@eastlink.ca</a>><br><= /span></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span = style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Subject: = </b></span><span style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica';"><b>good shows of = eagles getting fed (guess what?)</b><br></span></div><div = style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; = margin-left: 0px;"><span style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, = 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Date: </b></span><span = style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica';">February 18, 2015 at 6:03:34 PM = AST<br></span></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span = style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>To: = </b></span><span style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica';">Nature BNS <<a = href=3D"mailto:nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca">nature@blomidonnaturalists.c= a</a>>, "Jim Wolford ." <<a = href=3D"mailto:jimwolford@eastlink.ca">jimwolford@eastlink.ca</a>><br><= /span></div><div style=3D"margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; = margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px;"><span = style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica'; color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 1.0);"><b>Cc: = </b></span><span style=3D"font-family:'Helvetica';">Gharrett Patrick = Paon <<a = href=3D"mailto:gharrett@arcadiacontent.com">gharrett@arcadiacontent.com</a= >>, Richard Hennigar <<a = href=3D"mailto:hennigar@xcountry.tv">hennigar@xcountry.tv</a>>, Mark = Elderkin <<a = href=3D"mailto:elderkmf@gov.ns.ca">elderkmf@gov.ns.ca</a>><br></span></= div><br><div><meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html = charset=3Dwindows-1252"><div style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; = -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div = style=3D"margin: 0px;"><b>FEB. 18, 2016</b> (Wed.) - Another very cold = day (ca. -10 C.), but thankfully very little wind. I had to show = some videographers from Halifax (Gharrett Paon, Doug Graham = (photographer), and Colin ? with Arcadia Content from Halifax) the =93lay = of the land=94 re <b>overwintering bald eagles at Sheffield Mills and = elsewhere</b> this morning. We had an early meeting time at the = Irving Big Stop, but they were almost an hour late, and I had almost = given up on them.</div><div style=3D"margin: 0px; min-height: = 14px;"><br></div><div style=3D"margin: 0px;">This actually crazily = worked out pretty well, since we drove out to the north end of Middle = Dyke Road and still got there well in advance of the <b>feeding of the = chicken carcasses</b> (from overnight daily mortalities in the big = poultry barns (the Swetnam brothers have six of these barns). = Young William Swetnam, a nephew, delivered <b>two big pails of carcasses = at 9:40 a.m.</b> (Apparently usually this feeding occurs sometime = between 9 and 10 a.m. every morning during the winter.)</div><div = style=3D"margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style=3D"margin: = 0px;">Before the delivery, only about 10 eagles, plus a few ravens, were = quietly perched in field-edge trees, and 2 great black-backed gulls were = on the ground at the feeding site. But very soon after the = delivery, the eagles began flying back and forth and swooping toward the = very fresh offal. Soon there were 10 or more eagles on the ground = and squabbling, since the carcasses were all in a small area (but they = were soon spread a bit by the eagles and later pieces carried to the = trees).</div><div style=3D"margin: 0px; min-height: = 14px;"><br></div><div style=3D"margin: 0px;">Soon after the food = delivery, the eagle population doubled to 20+, with the extras arriving = mostly from the west, as far as I could tell. We saw at least 2 = red-tailed hawks, and the numbers of ravens and crows grew too. = The feeding was basically all finished 20 minutes after it began. = But the videographers went on photographing the eagles in the trees etc. = for a while, and seemed to be quite happy with what footage they = got. The sky was overcast, and it never got sunny at all until = after 11 a.m.</div><div style=3D"margin: 0px; min-height: = 14px;"><br></div><div style=3D"margin: 0px;">We all drove south and = west, along Canard Road, alias Hwy. 341, past the <b>old Canard Poultry = Plant</b>, which I understand is now a mink-processing facility? = We crossed Hwy. 358 and were able to get just far enough on lower Canard = Rd. to see the conspicuous<b> bald eagle nest </b>south of the = road.</div><div style=3D"margin: 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div = style=3D"margin: 0px;">Then back to <b>Hwy. 358 and southward</b> toward = Port Williams. On our <b>approach to Church Street </b>just before = 11 a.m., we blundered into a <b>much bigger show of 60+ bald eagles = being fed chickens</b> behind a long poultry building just east of the = corner and very visible from the road, where lots of groups of eagles = were perched in trees and flying and landing, along with at least 3 = red-tailed hawks plus ravens and crows. On the ground were 30+ = eagles, mostly adults but with quite a few immatures, plus another group = of 10 eagles on the ground, plus several perched groups we could see, = some of them quite close to us. A young woman who owned a small = house next to the road allowed us to approach one group of perched = eagles quite closely (King=92s County eagles can be very tolerant of = gawking and clicking humans).</div><div style=3D"margin: 0px; = min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style=3D"margin: 0px;">Thus a lot more = footage was captured by the very expensive camera (and big and heavy = with tripod) they had rented.</div><div style=3D"margin: 0px; = min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style=3D"margin: 0px;">Finally, we = drove east along<b> Lower Church Street </b>for about a kilometre to see = <b>another local bald eagle nest</b>, this one essentially right over = the road in a big tree. This gang wants to put together a = documentary on the whole bald eagle=92s life cycle, including the = nesting including courtship, nest-building (which goes on all the time = but especially in early spring), eggs, nestlings, fledglings, hunting = & fishing), dispersal & migration, etc.</div><div style=3D"margin:= 0px; min-height: 14px;"><br></div><div style=3D"margin: 0px;">They = dropped me off back at the Big Stop, and then after lunch they planned = on some more scouting and shooting film?</div><div style=3D"margin: = 0px;">=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97=97</div><div style=3D"margin: = 0px;"><br></div><div style=3D"margin: 0px;">Cheers from Jim in = Wolfville.</div></div></div></blockquote></div><br></body></html>= --Apple-Mail=_FF599F9C-3051-477D-A6A9-2FE4DB86110F--
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