FoodBanter.com - View Single Post - Dining table that's set with china

Dave Smith[_1_]

On 2016-12-31 12:41 PM, wrote:
> On Sat, 31 Dec 2016 11:25:23 -0500, jmcquown >
> wrote:
>
>> On 12/31/2016 10:12 AM, Nancy2 wrote:
>>> ...maybe the sun was in its eyes....I didn't know they flew around in the daytime. I
>>> thought they were night hunters. You can tell I don't know much about them. Bald
>>> eagles are my bird of choice. ;-))
>>>
>>> N.
>>>
>> It depends on the type of owl. They are mostly nocturnal. However,
>> there are a few species of owls that go hunting during the daytime. It
>> depends on when their selected prey might be running around. They'll
>> stir themselves especially if they have chicks to feed and they spot a
>> squirrel or some field mice. Or, around here, marsh rats. They're
>> somewhat like hawks in that regard.
>>
>> I remember looking out the back window and saying to my mom, OMG,
>> There's a hawk sitting right there! It had landed right behind the
>> house, outside the window. I guess it was having a rest. In the middle
>> of the day. When it took flight the wingspan was about 3 feet across.
>> All we could say was "Wow".
>>
>> Oh, and there are bald eagles nesting on Dataw.
>>
>> Happy New Year!
>>
>> Jill
>
> After people in the US hunting eagles from helicopters nearly wiped
> out the eagle population, you were lucky ours were intact.

Who makes up these factoids for you? They became a protected species
almost 100 years ago, long before helicopters. Their biggest problem in
the 20th century was DDT, as it was with many other creatures at the top
of the food chain. While it did not affect them directly it caused them
to lay thin shelled eggs that often broke before the young hatched.
They were as rare here in southern Ontario as they were in the US. I saw
lots of them out on Cape Breton Island and around Victoria BC.

> I remember
> them trucking about 100 bald eagles down to the US from Cape Breton to
> restore numbers.

How about 36 transplanted eagles.

>We still have a golden eagle population and many
> fish eagles (osprey) - common birds here aside from the bald eagles.

Osprey are another one that was very rare around here but which made a
huge comeback. Peregrine falcons were all but extinct here for years but
are now quite common. I saw one this morning when I looked out my
kitchen window.