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&nbsp;Since then th --001a11410724033ae4052b0cf2aa Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable For what it's worth..as a veterinarian..I have concerns about disease transmission, in both directions. Helene Helene Van Doninck DVM Cobequid Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre 2220 Irwin Lake Rd Brookfield NS Canada B0N1C0 902-893-0253 helene.birdvet@gmail.com <birdvet@hotmail.com> www.cwrc.net Find us on Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cobequid-Wildlife-Rehabilitation-Centre/134= 671693239334> and Twitter <https://twitter.com/CobequiWildlife> On Fri, Feb 5, 2016 at 5:28 PM, Jim Wolford <jimwolford@eastlink.ca> wrote: > I have lots of comments based on the popular dialogue that has sprung up > on N.S. bald eagles, but for now I will just make a few. Back when I > arrived in N.S. in 1975, most of the province=E2=80=99s bald eagles neste= d in Cape > Breton along the shores of the Bras D=E2=80=99Or Lake(s), especially wher= e streams > emptied into the =E2=80=9Clakes=E2=80=9D and had runs of fishes for spawn= ing like the > smelts mentioned? This core population of eagles was pretty free of the > DDT problem, at least in the warm months, because of the lack of industri= al > agriculture in Cape Breton. > > I found John=E2=80=99s comment about eagles vs. ospreys to be very intere= sting. > There is a mine of information to be analyzed in the two Maritimes Breedi= ng > Bird Atlases that were done 20 years apart, both for the eagles and for > ospreys. The expansion of the eagle population and the growth in the > nesting population were undoubtedly related to the increased winter > survival of eagles via the artificial feeding of agricultural carrion. I > wonder what other factors were involved over the decades. > > The history of our annual pseudoscientific counts of eagles and other > raptors showed a huge increase in wintering numbers in the early 1990s, > when over two years the total number jumped up by 300 birds!! Since then > the total numbers bounce around, up and down, probably for weather-relate= d > reasons, above and below an average of ca. 350-400 eagles in eastern King= =E2=80=99s > County. > > Again historically, back in the 1970s there were one or two bald eagle > nests in the Black River Lake area, and a few more on hydroelectric > reservoirs near Windsor. But it was not until 1991 that we recorded a ba= ld > eagle nest locally in The Valley, at Noggins Farm in Greenwich. Since th= en > the nesting population has grown steadily, but we have no handle on numbe= rs > of nests, and that growth may have slowed or stopped =E2=80=94 no data. = Also no > data exist on what our nesting eagles are feeding their eaglets, although > eagles are excellent fishers and foragers for other stuff, mostly? dead? > I wonder how much agricultural carrion is available to the eagles and how > many of them take advantage of such =E2=80=94 here is a case for strict r= egulations > from DNR and/or the organized poultry producers. > > The last thing I will add here is again historical. Regarding eagles vs. > mergansers: Back in the 1970s, I learned from DNR + Peter Austin-Smith Sr= . > + Merritt Gibson that a concentration site for wintering bald eagles was > the intertidal stretch of the lower Shubenacadie River, where tomcod spaw= n > in winter months. The tomcod in turn attract common mergansers in > numbers. The eagles learned that those adult (and immature) mergansers > were easily hunted there when there was a lot of ice present with small > areas of open water between the floes. It was full-size common > mergansers, which are big birds, especially males, that were being hunted= . > And I never heard about eagles going after the fish that the mergansers m= ay > have caught. > > End of comments for now. > > Cheers from Jim in Wolfville. > > Begin forwarded message: > > *From: *"Laviolette, Lance" <lance.laviolette@lmco.com> > *Subject: **Re: [NatureNS] Re: Bald Eagles in NS* > *Date: *February 5, 2016 at 2:16:12 PM AST > *To: *"naturens@chebucto.ns.ca" <naturens@chebucto.ns.ca> > *Reply-To: *naturens@chebucto.ns.ca > > Hi Ken, > > In case you=E2=80=99re worried about a size issue, Bald Eagles are capabl= e of > killing adult Canada Geese and Great Blue Herons (according to the > literature) so an adult merganser or loon wouldn=E2=80=99t be stretching = it. As you > know though, they are probably better scavengers or predators of sick > and/or injured individuals then active hunters of healthy birds. > > I was surprised to read Donna=E2=80=99s comments that their hunting press= ure was > driving loons off of NS lakes. If this is the case I guess that repeated > attempts to capture a loon, even if they failed each time, would eventual= ly > cause a bird to move to a more friendly location. > > All the best, > > Lance > > > > > On February 5, 2016 at 10:06 AM Ken McKenna <kenmcken@eastlink.ca> wrote: > I wonder Paul if the eagle is trying to steal a fish from the Merganser > rather than to try and take the merganser -unless you were speaking of > small young mergansers. Interesting the male is observed being attacked > most often. > Cheers > Ken > > Sent from my iPad > > > --001a11410724033ae4052b0cf2aa Content-Type: text/html; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <div dir=3D"ltr">For what it's worth..as a veterinarian..I have concern= s about disease transmission, in both directions.=C2=A0<div><br></div><div>= Helene</div></div><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br clear=3D"all"><div><div cl= ass=3D"gmail_signature"><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div dir=3D"ltr"><div><div di= r=3D"ltr"><div><div dir=3D"ltr"><div>Helene Van Doninck DVM<br>Cobequid Wil= dlife Rehabilitation Centre<br></div><div>2220 Irwin Lake Rd Brookfield NS = Canada B0N1C0<br>902-893-0253<br><a href=3D"mailto:birdvet@hotmail.com" tar= get=3D"_blank">helene.birdvet@gmail.com</a><br><a href=3D"http://www.cwrc.n= et" target=3D"_blank">www.cwrc.net</a><br></div><div><div><div>Find us on <= a href=3D"https://www.facebook.com/pages/Cobequid-Wildlife-Rehabilitation-C= entre/134671693239334" target=3D"_blank">Facebook</a>=C2=A0and <a href=3D"h= ttps://twitter.com/CobequiWildlife" target=3D"_blank">Twitter</a><br>&l