Posted on 03/03/2023 10:20:25 PM PST by thecodont
Tucked away on the highest branch of a eucalyptus tree standing at least 100 feet tall near the edge of San Francisco Bay is an unusual sight.
For just over two months, golfers and birders alike have been watching a pair of bald eagles gather wayward twigs and soft clumps of grass to bring to the nests they’re building about half a mile from the clubhouse at Corica Park Golf Course in Alameda.
Rick Lewis, who lives in Alameda and has been a birder and wildlife photographer for decades, said he’s spent 62 days in a row carefully observing and filming the once-endangered raptors. He first caught a glimpse of one of them last December while he was photographing rails near Arrowhead Marsh with a few other birders. Suddenly, one of them exclaimed that they had seen a bald eagle soaring overhead.
“I was a little bit dubious, but I turned around and lo and behold, there was one in the distance, flying toward the San Leandro Channel in the bay,” Lewis told SFGATE over the phone.
Several days passed, and he kept hearing reports of not one, but two bald eagles in the area, so Lewis decided to see if he could find them. He returned to the marsh and wandered along the channel, searching for hours, but had no luck.
“I was returning home walking down Robert Davey Jr. Drive because I had given up,” Lewis said with a laugh. “Then, as I was approaching the intersection of Island Drive, a bald eagle flew over my head. And not only that — it flew into a nest that was in the golf course. I was astounded.”
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
The golf course at Altus AFB had some hawks nesting - if you got too close to their tree line, you had to be alert - looking up and seeing those talons swooping your way was a real adrenaline rush...
A US wind energy company was ordered to pay $8m in fines after pleading guilty to killing at least 150 bald and golden eagles at its wind farms.
A 2013 study found that up to 328,000 birds are killed annually across the US by monopole turbines, which can spin at up to 200mph.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/07/wind-energy-company-guilty-killing-eagles
In order to not disturb the nesting birds the golf course and the nearby Oakland airport need to be closed.
I was watching and had to change the channel in disgust because the announcers on that channel failed to mention the fact that the bald eagle is a symbol of our nation and American pride. All they could say about it was how extraordinary it is for a bald eagle to show up there and what kind of bird it is.
We have quite a few bald eagles around here, mostly on the rivers.
We were visiting at a local restaurant with some German folks and they were asking what those big brown and white birds were.
They are occasionally hit by cars while feeding on road-kill.
We don’t let our yorkie out alone at our river place because of them,
and one time a few years ago we had a toddler visiting.
I didn’t like the way the eagles were staring at him.
And if you try and play through they will claw your eyes out…
If you get in his nest
Where do you take your drop from?
LIE!!!
It’ll be pretty funny when they snag somebody’s little shishka bow wow.
Guessing it was on FR but I seem to recall a story about a bunch of collars fond around an eagles nest.
First place I lived, I had bird feeders and I’d find owl pellets containing other birds around the feeders. I was feeding the owls too I guess.
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