[ValleyNature] Eagle Watch report, Jan. 23/10

[James W. Wolford]

JAN. 23 (Sat.), 2010 -- 19th ANNUAL EAGLE WATCH AT SHEFFIELD MILLS --  
Good "eagles weather" continues (i.e. very wintry with snow on the  
ground), very cold (-11 to 15 C. with a stiff cold wind from the west  
that made it seem much colder) with clear skies.  The only good spot  
I checked in the morning, on my way to the community hall, was  
between Canard Road and Saxon St. along the west wide of Middle Dyke  
Road, where there were lots of cars and human gawkers/photographers  
for the approx. 40 bald eagles just perched together in a small grove  
of trees well away from the road (distant viewing).

Later I heard that at 9 a.m. and a bit later at the main feeding spot  
for the eagles, i.e., the north end of Middle Dyke Road, the eagles  
there were inactive and nothing was happening even after the chicken  
carcasses were put out.  But then Bob & Wendy McDonald showed up in  
the same spot at 11 a.m., and then there were oodles of bald eagles  
(circa 150!) and lots of feeding activity, i.e., flying, swooping,  
landing and displacing other eagles, stealing food, etc., plus the  
ravens & great black-backed gulls (&red-tailed hawks?).

This pattern of activity and inactivity and feeding vs. no feeding is  
unpredictable, and luck is involved in being in the right place at  
the right time; thus it pays to keep checking on advertised locations  
at different times of the day.  At the same spot as above, at 12:30  
p.m., the number of eagles had dwindled to 30+, but many were perched  
in photographable spots next to the road at the north edge of the  
field; also then there was enough activity from the eagles & g.b.b.  
gulls & ravens to entertain many gawkers.  (I had snuck out of the  
hall to listen to half of Quirks & Quarks -- check that out on their  
Web site).

At about 4 p.m. I made a check of the Port Williams sewage ponds, but  
there were no birds at all to be seen.

Lately I have been asked about what happens regarding feeding the  
eagles on week days?  Most of the poultry producers that participate  
put out the daily chicken mortalities from their barns once a day,  
every day, for the entire winter.  But Bill Swetnam's son, who took  
over Bill's business and provides carcasses for that top-of-Middle- 
Dyke-Road site, often or usually has at least one more feeding during  
the Eagle Watch Weekends, usually in afternoon?

I'll try to write a bit more about the Eagle Watch phenomenon tomorrow.

Cheers from Jim in Wolfville, 542-9204
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