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erent this year.  Thus a certain amount of searching/d
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Down Yarmouth way, bald eagles have certainly become more common but not so=
ospreys, which are declining in numbers.
Heard one birdwatcher who lives in Tusket (with a nice view of part of the =
upper estuary) that he suspects the eagles of dining on osprey chicks.
From: naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca [mailto:naturens-owner@chebucto.ns.ca] =
On Behalf Of James Churchill
Sent: February 4, 2016 10:46 AM
To: naturens
Subject: [NatureNS] Re: Bald Eagles in NS
Jim's comment below about artificial winter feeding of Bald Eagles (et al.)=
might have gone unnoticed at the end of his message there, but it is a wor=
thy question:
Lots has changed since Bald Eagle populations were low in the 70s, and it's=
worth evaluating (again) impacts of artificial feeding on wintering eagles=
, our breeding eagle population and any impacts on other wildlife as a resu=
lt.
james.
On Tue, Feb 2, 2016 at 5:56 PM, Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> wrote:=
From: Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
Subject: report on SHEFFIELD MILLS EAGLE WATCH WEEKEND ONE (long)
Date: February 2, 2016 at 4:55:30 PM AST
To: Nature BNS <nature@blomidonnaturalists.ca>
Cc: Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca>
JAN. 30-31, 2016 [Sat.-Sun.] - SHEFFIELD MILLS EAGLE WATCH =E2=80=94 Both d=
ays had very mild temperatures, above +10 C., and light winds, plus perhaps=
15 cm. of fresh snow on Sat. morning. The fresh snow should have helped i=
n getting eagles to feeding locations, and conditions were great for gawker=
s to stand around and wait for action there, but Saturday was nearly a tota=
l bust for the Eagle Watch (and Sunday wasn=E2=80=99t much better).
As usual, on Sat. there were a few dozen cars at the feeding site at the no=
rth end of Middle Dyke Road, but the biggest number of bald eagles there wa=
s 11 (others may have seen more), and all they did was sit in the trees wit=
h very little flying around and little or no going after the ample supply o=
f cut-up large pieces of chicken carrion (the daily small proportion of the=
chicken-barn population that dies each night).
The landscape was gorgeous on Sat. morning, with all the new-fallen snow on=
the trees, bushes, and ground. I=E2=80=99m sure that Fri./Sat.=E2=80=99s =
snow deterred a lot of people from driving anywhere on Sat. On my way out =
to Sheffield Mills, I saw 8+ eagles at Church St. & Hwy. 358, and another 6=
at Saxon Street Pond (where there were 18 all perched together on Sunday).=
Frustrated photographers on both days found other groups of perched eagles =
in other parts of eastern King=E2=80=99s County, where dead chickens are of=
fered by other poultry producers, but all of this is no different this year=
=2E Thus a certain amount of searching/driving around is necessary, plus r=
evisiting sites.
I cannot explain the small numbers of eagles on Sat., nor their apparent la=
ck of hunger. The carcasses on the ground were also not attracting the rav=
ens or crows or great black-backed gulls. Some gulls and ravens were final=
ly attracted on Sun. afternoon.
Sunday was about the same at the main site in the morning, with low numbers=
of perched eagles and no feeding activity by them, but now there were many=
, many more cars and gawkers and quite a traffic jam (predictable). Mostly=
there were only a dozen or so eagles, but then in the afternoon a bunch mo=
re flew into the area, so that by 2 p.m. I counted at least 40 eagles, most=
of them perched in groups like ornaments in the trees. Also by then there=
was a fair amount of flying back and forth across the big field. I didn=
=E2=80=99t see any eagles grabbing food from the ground, but a few eagles i=
n the trees had carcasses and were feeding. One feeding eagle that was jus=
t west of the road attracted a lot of photographers who had to walk through=
the snow to approach it.
Sunday was a much better day at the community hall in terms of parked cars =
and breakfasts sold ($7 and I=E2=80=99m addicted to the blueberry sauce). =
Upstairs in the hall, there was very little of interest =E2=80=94 just the =
usual displays from Acadia Biology & Blomidon Naturalists Society, plus Gle=
nn Ells & BNS selling various books and calendars (the BNS calendar can now=
be gotten for $10, I think). No videos, no crafts nor photos for sale.
Let=E2=80=99s all hope that the coming weekend will be better for our usual=
behaviour of the hungry bald eagles and the gawkers/photographers, many of=
whom come from long distances and contribute to the local culture and econ=
omy in lots of ways. Find out more about what=E2=80=99s happening Feb. 6-7=
on www.eaglens.ca <http://www.eaglens.ca/> .
As Donna Crossland said in conversation earlier, maybe it=E2=80=99s finally=
time that we as a rural community confront some issues like the way our po=
ultry is raised as well as whether our local scavengers like bald eagles sh=
ould be artificially provided with agricultural carrion??
Nova Scotia=E2=80=99s Dept. of Natural Resources has promised for decades t=
o provide some real regulations (as opposed to voluntary guidelines) for th=
is artificial feeding of wildlife. To my knowledge, there have been only t=
wo of our local poultry farmers, Matt Harvie and the late Bill Swetnam (and=
now his two sons), who took it upon themselves to move their feeding spots=
well away from their farm buildings.
=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=
=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94=E2=80=94
Cheers from Jim in Wolfville.
--
James Churchill
Kentville, Nova Scotia
jameslchurchill@gmail.com
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