Amtrak train kills bald eagle eating dead deer on tracks near Aberdeen

The Baltimore Sun ^ | 02/04/2011 | The Associated Press

[speciallybland]

A bald eagle was killed by a train Thursday morning while enjoying breakfast on a stretch of tracks near Abderdeen, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Craig Koppie, an eagle coordinator with the federal agency, said the rare encounter happened in a flash. The bird was eating a deer carcass about 8:30 a.m. as an Amtrak train headed to Washington approached. An engineer spotted the bird and blasted his horn, but the eagle took off too slowly and was hit.

[sinanju]

Would this be Obama’s version of Quetzalcoatl?

Bald Eagles are anything but endangered nowadays. We got em up the wazoo.

[swain_forkbeard]

It’s Bush’s fault AND due to global warming.

[MrB]

Depends on who the engineer voted for last election.

[fruser1]

The govt should look into putting eagle-whistles on trains.

[basil]

I’m glad you have this figgered out—LOL!

[Fiji Hill]

Abderdeen?

Sounds Arabic.

[Libloather]

Deer hardest hit?

[aMorePerfectUnion]

DDT used to take these weak eagles out of the gene pool...

HEY, YOU’RE AN EAGLE! GO KILL THINGS!

[mapmaker77]

If the train driver was a regular American and not a union goon dhim, he’d be facing years of harassment and fines from miscellaneous gov’t agencies.

[crosshairs]

We had a deal!

[centurion316]

Abderdeen?

Sounds Arabic.

Actually named for a place in Scotland. The location of Aberdeen Proving Grounds where the Army tests weapons and vehicles. The test area is sits on Chesapeake Bay and is a haven for all sorts of wildlife. I have often watched Bald Eagles out on the test ranges.

[jagusafr]

Yes. It’s just past Harve De Grace.

Or, in this case, Coup de Grace...

Colonel, USAFR

[Robert A Cook PE]

Craig Koppie, an eagle coordinator with the federal agency ...

So, at a salary of 120,000.00 per year, with benefits costing us - for his one position alone probably $150,000.00 per year - plus an office and office staff travel and per diem and field visits and power and heat and rent and a car and a research budget and a ... what else has this “eagle-eyed” expert done for our nation this year?

[GeronL]

oh da manatee!

This is NOT a top story

[relee]

Time to outlaw trains.

Keep the trains but regulate their speed so the eagles will be safe, perhaps 4 MPH would be appropriate?

[antiRepublicrat]

That's "Abderdeen"

Quality reporting and proofing these days.

[MasterGunner01]

When will the Fish and Wildlife Service come out to arrest the Amtrak train for killing an endangered species? How does one put handcuffs on a diesel-electric locomotive? How does one transport it to jail and is their a big enough cell? Hmmmm.

[Palmetto Patriot]

It’s just past Harve De Grace.

Wasn't De Grace a shortstop for the Orioles?

I thought nothing could get past ole Harve.

[Lurker]

My wife and I were taking Amtrak to Chicago from San Fran one time. Our train hit a cow at about 4 in the morning. Did I mention the cow was dead and frozen solid?

When we debarked in Chicago it looked like the engine had hit a 900 pound mosquito. What a mess.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

Maybe they have a F&WS “Incidental Take” permit?