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egulations (as opposed to voluntary guidelin
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Hi Jims and All,
I agree. If one species is given too much support then others will =
suffer. Many years ago, on the Bra D'Or Lakes, I watched Smelt leaving =
the Lake and entering a small brook. An audience of 25-30, presumably =
stuffed, Bald Eagles also watched the Smelt. And I wondered; over time =
what chance for survival has that Smelt run ?=20
----- Original Message -----=20
From: James Churchill=20
To: naturens=20
Sent: Thursday, February 04, 2016 10:46 AM
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 worthy 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 result.
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 days 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 in getting eagles to feeding locations, and =
conditions were great for gawkers to stand around and wait for action =
there, but Saturday was nearly a total bust for the Eagle Watch (and =
Sunday wasn=E2=80=99t much better).=20
As usual, on Sat. there were a few dozen cars at the feeding site =
at the north end of Middle Dyke Road, but the biggest number of bald =
eagles there was 11 (others may have seen more), and all they did was =
sit in the trees with very little flying around and little or no going =
after the ample supply of cut-up large pieces of chicken carrion (the =
daily small proportion of the chicken-barn population that dies each =
night).=20
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). =20
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 offered by other poultry producers, but all of this is =
no different this year. Thus a certain amount of searching/driving =
around is necessary, plus revisiting sites.=20
I cannot explain the small numbers of eagles on Sat., nor their =
apparent lack of hunger. The carcasses on the ground were also not =
attracting the ravens or crows or great black-backed gulls. Some gulls =
and ravens were finally 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 more 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 in the trees had =
carcasses and were feeding. One feeding eagle that was just 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 Glenn 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 economy in lots of ways. Find out =
more about what=E2=80=99s happening Feb. 6-7 on 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 poultry is raised as well as whether our local =
scavengers like bald eagles should be artificially provided with =
agricultural carrion??
Nova Scotia=E2=80=99s Dept. of Natural Resources has promised for =
decades to provide some real regulations (as opposed to voluntary =
guidelines) for this artificial feeding of wildlife. To my knowledge, =
there have been only two 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=20
Cheers from Jim in Wolfville.
--=20
James Churchill
Kentville, Nova Scotia
jameslchurchill@gmail.com
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<DIV>Hi Jims and All,</DIV>
<DIV> I agree. If one species is given too much