Eagles

[emerald]

When I visited Hawk Mountain Sanctuary's website today, I noticed they set a new record this season with 260 bald eagles observed. I thought eagles and eagle sightings especially those on the A.T. might be an appropriate topic for a new thread. Many of those bald eagles sighted by HMS observers flew over the A.T. which passes through Kittantinny Ridge Important Bird Area, Pennsylvania's largest and maybe most important IBA.

[emerald]

See bald eagle life history and conservation status report for detailed information (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

[johnnybgood]

Bald Eagle & Pereguine Falcon numbers have been on the rise for the past 5-7 years with increased awareness of their fragile habitats. We now need to do something to protect our large carnivores such as the bobcats,coyotes,and mountain lions whose habitat has greatly diminished due to over development occuring in areas adjacent to our national parks.

[emerald]

Coyotes are increasing their numbers and expanding their range without any help from us. I expect there would be little public support for assisting them.

Peregrines are another matter and may be as great a conservation success story as the removal of our national symbol from the endangered species list.

WhiteBlaze thread recommendation: Peregrines in the Green Diamond!

[STEVEM]

This is a great time of year to see wintering bald eagles along the Upper Delaware River. My wife and I go several times each winter. We've seen as many as fifty in a day. Here's a site with plenty of information and directions: http://www.eagleinstitute.org/

We went eagle watching last weekend and saw 10 or 12 along the Lackawaxen River. I posted photos to Whiteblaze earlier today.

[Smile]

I love Hawk Mountain, it blows me away to see the pictures from days of old when guys were up there hunting with like 200 birds laying around their feet - so glad it's a sanctuary today! Just what were they thinking back then!

[emerald]

I've shared a Pennsylvania DEP page about her with others here before, but I don't recall if I ever posted it where everyone can read it.

[Kanati]

During the early part of my hike last year my wife kept herself entertained by watch a pair of bald eagles raising their two chicks at Shiloh National Military Park which is near our home. She saw the parents bringing fish from the river and watched the young eagles as they left the nest. Their nest was/is about 6 feet across and is located about 70 feet off the ground in a large pine tree about 30 yards off the side of one of the park roads. The park rangers roped this area off so no cars could drive thru. The eagles would go about their business with an audience within 100 feet.

[theinfamousj]

Not the AT, but I got my first up-close look at a bald eagle (a female, no less) at Grandfather Mountain in NC. Us science teachers were up there for some professional development over the summer. She was stunning and huge.

[Nearly Normal]

Most predators are on the rise. Less small farm holdings, hunting, trapping, more protection and fewer reasons for people to keep them shot out.

[woodsy]

Close enough! to the AT that is.
Two summers ago on a 3,000' Maine summit very near the AT(6 miles as the crow flies)
from down below came a huge bird on an updraft circling upward, rising really fast.
Guy next to me shared his binos for a look, sure enough it was a Bald Eagle.
First one from a mountain top here!
In a matter of a few minutes it had risen thousands of feet.

[weary]

Okay, Shades of Gray.

What does IBA, stand for, if anything? I don't have a clue!

Weary

[emerald]

Since I seem incapable of removing myself from my computer terminal today, I am able and pleased to answer your question. IBA stands for Important Bird Area.

To learn more about Important Bird Areas, refer to Audubon Pennsylvania's IBA page.

Note: If you landed here seeking information on IPAs we have those in Pennsylvania too, but you'll need to seek information on them elsewhere.

[Nearly Normal]

IPA is tasty.

[ki0eh]

I've shared a Pennsylvania DEP page about her with others here before, but I don't recall if I ever posted it where everyone can read it.

Thanks for sharing. As the bumper sticker says, "well behaved women rarely make history."

[Hikerhead]

I took this picture of a Bald Eagle on the AT just north of Little Stony Man on the AT.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2...47269387eioFqd

[weary]

I once sighted a golden eagle in western Maine near bald pate, and several times have seen bald eagles while approaching the West Branch of the Penobscot River from the 100-mile-wilderness.

But most of my experience with eagles has involved the area of Maine where I grew up on the coast of Maine. Eagles were commonly seen when I was a child in the 1930s at the mouth of the Kennebec river. There was an active eagle nest in the woods near a tidal marsh that abutted land where my cousins lived.

In the 1930s we commonly watched eagles soar above their farm and frequently walked to the nest to check out any babies.

Then right after World War II the eagles disappeared. Some have blamed loss of habitat, but I think the evidence is overwhelming that pesticides and industrial chemicals were to blame -- including DDT.

For one thing the eagles started to return all most as soon as the river became cleaner with the passage of Maine's clean water laws that took effect in 1975. Sadly with the cleaner estuary, habitat continued to deteriorate, as house builders took advantage of the newly pleasant shores of the estuary.

Despite this eagles have returned in force. A nest on an island located a quarter mile from my house has produced off spring almost every year for the past 20 years. Another active nest is located a mile or so up the road from my house.

Other active nests are located every where about the estuary -- which is second in size only to the Hudson River estuary, north of the Chesapeake Bay.

Weary

[emerald]

Of course, weary, we might not be writing what we are here today were it not for Rachel Carson one of Pennsylvania's greatest contributions to conservation.

[Wise Old Owl]

I took this picture of a Bald Eagle on the AT just north of Little Stony Man on the AT.

http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/2...47269387eioFqd

HH I am going to recommend WWW.PHOTOBUCKET.COM Webshots has a huge wait and occationally fails to load. Its free and it works.

For the rest of the readers I am so glad I am an hour away from Hawk Mountain. If you ever get the chance to be there in Fall please go up the first clear morning after a rainstorm. There is no describing a super highway of birds flying south for the winter. One year we saw "clouds" of hawks, check out a few of my uploaded pictures.

[weary]

Of course, weary, we would not be writing what we are here today were it not for Rachel Carson one of Pennsylvania's greatest contributions to conservation.

Rachel spent her summers on the next peninsula north of me. One of her earlier books, Under the Sea wind(?) I think, was mostly a description of the midcoast of Maine.

Sadly, I never met her. She is famous for Silent Spring, but she was one of the best nature writers I've ever read.

Weary