by: Peter Austin-Smith
March 1977
In the pre-dawn darkness of a mid-winter morning, only the sharp stinging wind gives to the snow covered land. Most life is hibernating or gone south to escape the icy grasp of an east coast winter. A few creatures, adapted to the deep snows and bone-chilling cold, move silently over the frosty landscape in a constant search for food to stoke the fires of life.
Then in the first faint glow of the new day, a large bird silently appears, gliding down over the forests and across the sleeping fields. With a few unhurried movements of its huge wings, it alights near the top of an old grey-shadowed tree.
Sunlight suddenly strikes the bird, glancing off the white head and tail, revealing the yellow hooked bill, the bright yellow talons, and rendering the dark brown body in stark contrast to the brightening sky. The bird remains motionless for a few moments; then, again in unhurried motion, leans forward from its perch to glide noiselessly down to feed on the dark mound of a dead cow lying near the hedgerow- much to the astonishment of the sleepy people at breakfast in the nearby farmhouse.
There can be no mistake. An adult bald eagle has been attracted to the farm by the unspoken promise of an effortless morning meal.
Such a scene is not unlikely to happen in some farming areas of Nova Scotia when a cold winter has shut down the lakes and slow moving rivers, driving eagles from their territorial domains to seek food wherever they can. Surprisingly, this regal bird with glowering countenance, although technically classed as a predator, is often a scavenger and seldom passes up an opportunity to dine on carrion. This vulgar behavior was the cause of an argument some two hundred years ago in the United States when Ben Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were appointed to a committee to choose an official seal for the new nation. Franklin wanted the wild turkey, "a... respectable bird" to stand as a symbol; he believed the bald eagle to be a bird of dubious diet and equally dubious character, stemming from its occasional habit of bullying the prey from Ospreys. Ben was outvoted by Adams and Jefferson who thought of the bald eagle as symbolizing "a free spirit, high soaring and courageous". General George Washington, who, according to one writer, had a flair for making official documents look even more official, was the first to use the new eagle seal when he attached it to an order arranging an exchange of war prisoners with Great Britain.
However, there are people who still share Franklin's disdain for the bald eagle. In fact, some consider it a menace to livestock. Others admire its grand powers of flight, and the fierce appearance and terrifying stare fixed in its eyes which give the bird such a look of cold grandeur.
In truth, the bald eagle is neither a crafty, aggressive marauder swooping down to capture poultry, sheep or small children (this bit of folklore is still cherished in some parts of Nova Scotia), nor is it a noble, swift flying predator given to relentlessly pursuing its prey. It is really a shy and - at least in winter - a sociable bird with fondness for fish, but with tastes catholic enough to permit it to eat mammals and birds. Although bald eagles will capture and kill ducks, they seldom take healthy waterfowl, preferring instead to watch patiently with baleful glare for the right moment to pick off sick or wounded birds.
Stories of bald eagles carrying off large animals greatly exaggerate the lifting power of these birds. Actually, they are quite incapable of flying long distances carrying weight of more than three or four pounds. Occasionally an eagle, usually an inexperienced young bird, will tackle prey too large to handle. If it is a fish, as one writer described it, the performance ends with a wet eagle, without its intended victim, swimming ignominiously to shore, rowing its wings like oars.
The bald eagle, with a wingspan of up to 7½ feet, is one of the largest birds in Nova Scotia. The white head and tail of the adult are distinctive characteristics familiar to everyone. At the time this eagle was described and named, "bald" meant "white" or "white-faced" although bald now popularly means hairless. The scientific name, Haliaeetus leucocephalus means "fish eagle with the white head". Young eagles are much less easily recognized because they are large, blackish-brown birds with buff or buff-white mottling on the feathers under the wings and on the tail. As the young grow older, the head and tail gradually whiten until they are pure white when the birds are about five or six years old.
IMAGE: A young eagle dries off after his first lesson in payload size. (low quality photo)
In the late 1950s eagle numbers in the southern states, particularly Florida, began to drop alarmingly. Worried scientists began to study the affected populations and soon discovered that the major causes of the decline were shooting (all eagles are protected by laws), accidental poisoning as a result of predator control programs, increasing pressure on eagle habitat exerted by an expanding human population and uncontrolled land development, and the widespread use of DDT.
IMAGE: Illegal killing of eagles is contributing to the decline in numbers.
Concern for the welfare of the bald eagles prompted new studies in Canada as well as in the United States. In 1966, the late Ted Gittens, while a student at Acadia University, undertook a study of Nova Scotia's eagle population. Based on a somewhat limited survey, he estimated that between 200 and 250 adult and 50 to 75 immature birds resided in the province. He found that the number of adults producing young was rather low because of shooting, habitat destruction, and disturbance during the nesting season. From what little information he could gather he felt that pesticide contamination was not an important cause of breeding failure here.
IMAGE: Wildlife Biologist, Ross Hall, censusing eagles from a helicopter.
Recently, the Canadian Wildlife Service carried out a survey of nesting eagles in the Maritime Provinces and discovered that Nova Scotia has the largest bald eagle population in this region. Most of our eagles are concentrated during the breeding season on Cape Breton Island, primarily around the Bras d'Or Lakes area where they find prime accommodation for their nests in the tallest trees of the thick woods, within a mile of water.
Where do eagles go, and how many stay in the province when they are forced from their breeding territories by snow and ice? To answer these questions and to learn more about their wintering habits, the Department's Wildlife Division conducted a census of overwintering eagles beginning in January 1976. In addition to Lands and Forests' involvement, the public was invited to participate by sending in reports of any eagles observed during the winter months.
The response was immediate9:17 AM 8/27/98 letters from people around the province poured in, asking for information as to how they could help. At the end of the census period, over 400 reports of eagle sightings were received. After screening out the obviously duplicate observations, it was estimated that a minimum of 149 eagles overwintered in the province. Eighty-four of these were adults, 63 were young birds and 2 were reported as age unknown. Regionally, at least 28 adults and 21 immatures remained in Cape Breton throughout the winter, while 27 adults and 16 immatures were observed in the eastern mainland of Nova Scotia. 24 adults and 23 immatures were counted in the western section of the province.
Most of these birds were seen along the lower, ice-free reaches of rivers down to and along somewhat sheltered coastal bays and inlets. Others were reported near slaughter houses and poultry farms, while a few chose to while the winter away near city harbours.
No one knows how many of these overwintering eagles are Nova Scotian residents. Some of them might be birds from Newfoundland, eastern Quebec or Labrador seeking to escape the generally more severe winter weather in the north. However, we believed that most of our adult birds tend to stay here throughout the year to be as close as possible to their nesting grounds. Eagles mate for life and generally return to the same nest each year, usually during the still bitterly cold and windy but longer days of early March. Young birds, on the other hand, seem to wander about over vast areas, many even moving down the eastern seaboard to winter in more favorable climes.
We are now conducting a second winter eagle census. Every two weeks our personnel travel over a standardized route selected on the basis of information from the first census. This systematic method will be used every two or three years to obtain estimates of the overwintering population and age ratios. These data, in turn, will be analyzed to detect any significant changes in the winter population levels which could signal problems. As eagles, and indeed all hawks and owls, are protected by provincial law, knowing where the birds are in the winter time may help Department enforcement officials to protect them from unscrupulous shooters.
Adequate winter habitat, foods and freedom from disturbance are as important for bald eagles as they are to other animals. In fact they are necessities if we truly wish to protect our eagles. To young and old alike, whether sportsman or naturalist, the glimpse of a massive bald eagle, cleaving through the darkening sky on heavy wings to its winter roost, is a stirring sight, a symbol of wilderness worthy of our concern.