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no di --089e0118429e9a29e0052af9a301 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Hi All, The eagles were there, you were just on the wrong road!! I drove down Fred Thomas Rd and met three people from Quebec, they had stopped at the end of Middle Dyke Rd and as Jim says saw only about eleven eagles and were exploring the area. I suggested they follow me and I might be able to help. I didn't expect quite the show that happened! Through their little english and my little french I could tell that they had never seen such a sight. On Saxon St at the Sheffield Farm Pond and the chicken barn there, we watched 76 eagles feeding on the ground, perching, lounging in the pines and suitably impressing the three visitors from Quebec! This is a site that Harold and I have for our eagle count and every year there is a good number of eagles here. I expect this weekend will be no different. Cheers, George Forsyth On 4 February 2016 at 10:46, James Churchill <jameslchurchill@gmail.com> wrote: > 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 a= s > 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 B= oth 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 gawke= rs >> to stand around and wait for action there, but Saturday was nearly a tot= al >> 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 >> north end of Middle Dyke Road, but the biggest number of bald eagles the= re >> was 11 (others may have seen more), and all they did was sit in the tree= s >> 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). >> >> 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 Sheffiel= d >> 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 chick= ens 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, p= lus >> revisiting sites. >> >> 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 th= e >> 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 count= ed *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 fro= m the >> ground, but a few eagles in the trees had carcasses and were feeding. O= ne >> 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 s= auce). >> Upstairs in the hall, there was very little of interest =E2=80=94 just t= he 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 F= eb. 6-7 on *www.eaglens.ca >> <http://www.eaglens.ca/>* . >> >> As Donna Crossland said in conversation earlier, maybe it=E2=80=99s fina= lly time >> that we as a rural community confront some issues like the way our poult= ry >> is raised as well as whether our local scavengers like bald eagles shoul= d >> be artificially provided with agricultural carrion?? >> >> Nova Scotia=E2=80=99s Dept. of Natural Resources has promised for decade= s to >> provide some real regulations (as opposed to voluntary guidelines) for t= his >> 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 spo= ts >> 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 > > > > --089e0118429e9a29e0052af9