Tag Archives: Bald Eagle

Important Information for Cape Ann Wildlife Supporters!

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Do you want to help rid our community of rat poison, specifically SGARS, which is the rat poison attributed to killing our local hawks, eagles, owls, and falcons? Please attend the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aril 8th, and read the following from Caroline Haines, founder of the organization Rescue Gloucester Wildlife.

Dear Rescue Gloucester Wildlife supporters,

 

There is good news regarding our efforts to eliminate or reduce the use of SGARS (second-generation anti-coagulant rodenticides) in Gloucester. The Gloucester City Council will consider a proposed ordinance to ban the use of rodenticides on city owned property.  It is scheduled for a Public Hearing at the next council meeting on Tuesday April 8th at City Hall. The meeting begins at 6, but the agenda is lengthy, and the ordinance is not early on the agenda. Advocates will have three minutes to speak about the proposal.  I will be speaking, and I plan to prepare ahead so that I can get all of my points squeezed in, in the allotted time. I hope that many of you will consider giving heartfelt testimony, too. If you are not able to attend, sending an email or making a call to a councilor is another way you can make an impact. There is a lot of support on the council itself, but the more they hear from us, the better. Councilors Gilman, Gross, Grace, Nolan, and Benson have been very encouraging and helpful. And Councilor Worthley put the motion forward. 

 

Currently the proposed ordinance is being reviewed by the city’s legal department and some technical language is being revised.  There is a caveat in subsection (d) that allows that “the Director of Public Works may choose, after determining that less toxic integrated pest management strategies would be or are ineffective, to use SGARS for the period of time he/she deems necessary. The only requirement is that he/she share this information publicly as well as directly with the Mayor and the City Council.”   This is somewhat concerning. I would prefer a clear time limit on the temporary use of SGARS and I don’t like the “would be” language, which seems to imply that the DPW doesn’t have to try integrated pest management first, before resorting to rodenticide use. If this concerns you, too, please speak up about it, or email your councilor. Council email addresses are simply first initial, last name @gloucester-ma.gov  (i.e., tgross@gloucester-ma.gov).

 

Council Chair Tony Gross has promised to keep me posted if the proposed ordinance is rescheduled for any reason.  I will post on our Rescue Gloucester Wildlife Facebook page if this should happen. Otherwise, I hope to see some of you at the Council meeting on April 8th.  Thank you all for interest and efforts in eliminating these destructive poisons from our environment.

 

Onward,
Caroline Haines

Congratulations to Geoff and Mandy of Cape Ann’s Schooner Strombus – See Full Schooner Race Results

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Thank you to all the Schooner Captains and Crews for providing a glorious 40th Annual Schooner Fest for us all to enjoy!

Schooner Strombus –  Parade of Sail

Schooners Adventure and Strombus

Beautiful Parade of Schooners! – new short film

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Gloucester’s magnificent 40th Annual Schooner Festival Parade of Sail

 

Canon in D major composed by Johann Pachelbel, performed by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Music from the Internet Archive of Royalty Free Music – Creative Commons – with attributes – non-commercial.

Bald Eagle in the Fog

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A chance encounter with a first-hatch-year American Bald Eagle, perched on the limb of an old dead tree.

This young Eagle, although the right age, is not one of the two eaglets that fledged from the nest in Gloucester earlier this summer. Those two were banded and this one is not. So exciting to think that the Essex County population of Eagles is expanding!

ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT AT 50 YEARS OLD!

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This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act. In its first 50 years, the ESA has been credited with saving fully 99% of listed species from extinction, thanks to the collaborative actions of federal, state, and local agencies, Tribal governments, conservation organizations and private citizens. Read here for some very notable successes. 

Bald Eagle Soars Over Gloucester

From the US Department of Interior, “The Act has saved hundreds of species from extinction and continues to protect and preserve some of our most beloved animals and plants. It has also helped to create a better understanding of how human activities can impact the environment and how we can work together to protect it. Perhaps most importantly, this anniversary is a reminder that conservation efforts are essential for stemming the worsening impacts of climate change, protecting biodiversity and preserving our planet for ourselves and future generations.”

Did you know that when the ESA first listed the Piping Plover, in 1985, there were fewer than 4,000 breeding pairs nationwide? Today, in Massachusetts alone, we are currently hosting over 1100 nesting pairs. Our PiPl Friends at the New York City Plover Project were recently featured in “Ten Stories of Hope: The Endangered Species Act at 50” a new report by the Endangered Species Coalition. To read more about Plovers and all of the stories of hope,  you can download a pdf of the article here.

Building on the success of Piping Plovers in recovery, please consider making an end of the year tax deductible donation to our ongoing documentary funding efforts for The Piping Plovers of Moonlight Bay. Your contribution goes directly to the cost of finishing the film and is absolutely invaluable!

Donate here to our Network for Good online fundraiser .

We are deeply appreciative of every gift given, small and large. For large contributions, your name and organization’s logo is prominently displayed at the beginning and end of the film, with opportunities for up to 30 second promotional spots.  Please feel free to call or write with any questions regarding sponsorship. 

With gratitude to the following PiPl friends for their kind contributions – Lauren Mercadante (New Hampshire), Jennie Meyer (Gloucester), Alice and David Gardner (Beverly), JoeAnn Hart (Gloucester), Kim Tieger (Manchester), Joanne Hurd (Gloucester), Holly Niperus (Phoenix), Bill Girolamo (Melrose), Claudia Bermudez (Gloucester), Paula and Alexa Niziak (Rockport), Todd Pover (Springfield), Cynthia Dunn (Gloucester), Nancy Mattern (Albuquerque), Marion Frost (Ipswich), Cecile Christianson (Peabody), Sally Jackson (Gloucester), Donna Poirier Connerty (Gloucester), Mary Rhinelander (Gloucester), Jane Hazzard (Georgetown), Duncan Holloman (Gloucester), Karen Blandino (Rockport), Duncan Todd (Lexington), Sue Winslow (Gloucester), Amy Hauck-Kalti (Ohio), JoAnn Souza (Newburyport), Karen Thompson (San Francisco), Carolyn Mostello (Rhode Island), and my sweet husband Tom 🙂

The art of camouflage – one-day-old chicks

FLEETING MOMENT WITH A BALD EAGLE SUB-ADULT, POSSIBLY 3.5 YEARS OLD

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An all too brief encounter with a young Bald Eagle, possibly 3.5 years old. You can tell by the tail feathers that are edged in brown, not yet fully white; and the amount of brown streaking around his eyes and the back of his head.

He flew in and out within a matter of minutes. What a beautiful scene though, despite being short lived.

CAPE ANN’S BALD EAGLE PAIR MATING (AGAIN)! THEY MUST BE NEWLYWEDS!

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Over the past several weeks, MM and his partner, the young sub-adult, have been seen mating at least five times, as observed by myself and neighbors. One neighbor commented, “they must be newlyweds.” In all matings observed, MM has assumed the dominant position so we think he must be the male. We hope the love birds are making lots of baby eaglets although, its not entirely clear whether or not a sub-adult is mature enough to produce eggs.

In thinking about tiny Piping Plovers and majestic Bald Eagles, it’s inspiring to know that conservation success measures, such as those taken to bring the Bald Eagle back from near extinction, are tremendously meaningful and impactful.

The below graph of Bald Eagle breeding pairs speaks a thousand words –

CAPE ANN’S BALD EAGLE MM HARASSED BY OSPREY AND CROWS

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A joy, and surprise, to see MM swooping across the marsh, although he wasn’t too happy. A murder of Crows and one Osprey were hot on his trail. MM landed for a brief second, only about twenty  feet from where I was standing. I had just arrived and struggled to get may camera out quickly, but did catch the tail end of the action. How beautiful to see his majestic wingspan. You can see his leg bands in the last few frames.

Perhaps MM simply did not want to be annoyed and that is why he flew off. Bald Eagles are very powerful and it was just last spring that either MM, or his mate, drowned a nesting Osprey.

from Avian Report – Female bald eagles have longer wingspans than males

In most birds, males are larger than females, but in most birds of prey is the opposite. The female bald eagle is larger and has a longer wingspan than the male.

Ornithologists suggest that such differences in size and wingspan allow male and female eagles to hunt prey of different sizes and avoid competition over prey of the same size.

Another line of thought suggests that females are larger to protect their eggs and chicks from larger predators and aggressive bald eagle males that may attack their chicks and female eagles.

The literature indicates that the bald eagle’s wingspan ranges between 5.11” feet and 7.7” feet. The lower end indicates the smallest males, while the upper end refers to the largest females in the range. However, most males have a wingspan of 6.4” while most females have a wingspan of 7.2” feet.

Read more here

 

 

BALD EAGLE PAIR NESTING ON CAPE COD!- FIRST NEST IN OVER 100 YEARS

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Mass Wildlife reports that there are over 70 active Bale Eagle nests in Massachusetts, a record!  Now there is a brand new nest in Barnstable. The last reported Bald Eagle nest was seen on Cape Cod in Sandwich, in 1905.

The public can support the conservation of Bald Eagles and other rare species in Massachusetts by reporting sightings and donating to MassWildlife’s Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program.

What does a Bald Eagle nest look like? –

All images courtesy wiki commons media google search

STUNNING BALD EAGLE IN THE HOOD!

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Saturday afternoon a captivating young Bald Eagle swooped onto the scene with a fresh catch held tightly in its talons. He was fairly far off in the distance and I couldn’t quite capture what exactly he was eating.

It didn’t take long for the eagle to devour the little creature and after dining, he circled around the pond several times before landing in a nearby tree. I’ve never been so close to an eagle and it was a gift to see, really just gorgeous. It’s feathers were richly mottled in shades of chocolate brown, with contrasting white tips. Despite its youth, you could see the majesty and strength in its wings when soaring overhead.

The eagle perched in the branches for a few moments, completely ignoring the squwacky crows that were gathering, before heading out towards sea.

There have been numerous reports of Bald Eagles in the area. Earlier in the day, a passerby told me she had seen a juvenile Bald Eagle with a crow in its clutches. Although I don’t have a side-by-side comparison, the young Bald Eagle’s talons appeared enormous, even larger than a Snowy or Great Horned Owl’s talons.

Bald Eagles have repopulated the 48 contiguous states, Alaska, Canada, and northern Mexico. Their recovery over the past several decades is largely due to the ban on DDT (yet another deadly dangerous poisonous insecticide manufactured by Monsanto). Bald Eagles mate for life and they are breeding in the area. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see a nest on Cape Ann!

I believe this to be a second or third hatch year juvenile Bald Eagle. You can tell by the broad brown band on its face, the iris is transitioning from amber to yellow, and because the beak is beginning to turn yellow.

Click on any of the photos in the gallery above to see a full-sized slideshow.

Fourth hatch year Bald Eagle -note the remaining brown feathers around the face.

Mature Bald Eagle (images courtesy wiki commons media).

We Love You Too Snowy Owl!

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For the past week or so there has been a remarkably tolerant Snowy Owl feeding and perching on the rocks at Atlantic Road. Perhaps she (or he) is the same Snowy that has been noticed on the backshore over the course of the past month. I write tolerant because this Snowy was perched about fifteen feet from the sidewalk and neither traffic nor birdwatchers seemed to faze her much. As word has gotten out, her fan club has grown, so much so that there was a bit of a traffic jam today. Every several hours I stopped by to check on her whereabouts. At 2:00 today, she had only moved about a foot from where she was at daybreak. By sundown, she had flown up onto the rooftops of an Atlantic Road resident.
Many thanks to Kate for all her text alerts letting me know when the Snowy was on the backshore!

Early morning and the Snowies face and talons were bloodstained, which is a very positive sign that she is feeding well. Snowy Owls wintering over in our region eat rabbits, rodents (lots of rats), songbirds, and sea ducks. Being good stewards of the Snowies means not applying rat poison around your home or business. There are several methods equally as efficient in killing rats as rat poison. When a bird of prey such as a Peregrine Falcon, Snowy Owl, Red-tailed Hawk, or Bald Eagle ingests a rat that has eaten rat poison, the raptor becomes sick and will usually die.

The Snowy spent the better part of the day mostly dozing, preening, cleaning her talons, and puffing her feathers for warmth. At one point she pushed her face into a snow patch but I couldn’t tell if it was to drink or to wash.

For a moment the Snowy sat bolt upright from a loud bang heard in the distance, but generally, she was a satiated and sleepy owl.

Snowy Owl Fan Club Traffic Jam