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America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

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Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#181

Post by MarkSweep »

rdiddly wrote: post #115

This seems as good a time/place as any to remind everyone that the sound an eagle makes isn't the screech Hollywood has made you believe it is (that's a red-tailed hawk). It's actually relatively non-macho (for a superpower's mascot anyway) and sounds like it's laughing. The hawk says: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/sounds The eagle says: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/sounds

I was going to reply that “it could be worse: Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird”. But some research says he did not say exactly that, rather he said “ the Turkey is in Comparison [to the bald eagle] a much more respectable Bird”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/american-myths-b...

Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#182

Post by Ancapistani »

NDizzle wrote: post #14

I just moved back to Arkansas after being in California for 20 years. Here's a picture a local took along AR highway 59. 7 bald eagles hanging out. https://scontent-dfw5-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/155912289_4304... I have some good shots of one eating breakfast behind my house as well. Kind of gory though.

Hello, neighbor :)

I’m a couple of hours east of you, but it’s rare to see other Arkansans on HN.

Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#183

Post by lasc4r »

MarkSweep wrote: post #181
rdiddly wrote: post #115

This seems as good a time/place as any to remind everyone that the sound an eagle makes isn't the screech Hollywood has made you believe it is (that's a red-tailed hawk). It's actually relatively non-macho (for a superpower's mascot anyway) and sounds like it's laughing. The hawk says: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/sounds The eagle says: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/sounds

I was going to reply that “it could be worse: Benjamin Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird”. But some research says he did not say exactly that, rather he said “ the Turkey is in Comparison [to the bald eagle] a much more respectable Bird” https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/american-myths-b...

Eagles eat the dead cows on our farm. As I understand it from 1 minute of google searching Turkeys do not partake of dead flesh. Much more gentlemanly if you ask me.

Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#184

Post by vizzier »

medium_burrito wrote: post #41
xiaolingxiao wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

so much freedom!

I've seen the same in driving up to Vancouver from YVR. Freedom spills over the border!

If you pop down to the Tswassen ferry from vanouver you might get to see something along the lines of this too: https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/vancouver-news/worlds-lar...

Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#185

Post by devb »

rdiddly wrote: post #115

This seems as good a time/place as any to remind everyone that the sound an eagle makes isn't the screech Hollywood has made you believe it is (that's a red-tailed hawk). It's actually relatively non-macho (for a superpower's mascot anyway) and sounds like it's laughing. The hawk says: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Red-tailed_Hawk/sounds The eagle says: https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Bald_Eagle/sounds

A local radio station has "Liberty the Eagle" as its mascot. Not long ago it was updated to "Liberty, the Eagle with the voice of a red tail."

Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#186

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

dragonwriter wrote: post #177
codemac wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except nations are a completely made up concept by groups of humans, rather than a deep survival drive of the individual when pushed into a life or death scenario.

> Except nations are a completely made up concept by groups of humans Every division of the universe into distinct constituents is a completely made up concept by groups of humans, including “humans” and “groups” thereof.

Animals categorize as well, e.g. food or not, threatening or not.

Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#187

Post by nickff »

post_below wrote: post #128

As superpower mascots go, I think the eagle turned out to be pretty much perfect. Large, powerful, masters of their environment, noble from a distance. Up close, easily scared, shameless scavengers who love the opportunity to steal prey from other creatures. Note: No intention of starting a political conversation, as a resident of said superpower I just love the irony.

Most powerful Western countries have used eagles as a symbol for over a thousand years, probably as a way of emulating the Roman Empire. The USA is hardly unique in this choice, but America did select a local eagle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquila_(Roman)

Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#188

Post by devb »

giardini wrote: post #179
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see reports about 'a dozen' etc suffering from lead ingestion. But no national statistics, just anecdotes. Considering that hunters shoot millions of lead bullets each year, it seems a small problem? It's suggested that birds eat guts from eviscerated animals that hunters leave behind. Perhaps a policy of burying or scattering the guts would solve the problem?

Bird-lovers have pushed an anti-lead agenda (for hunting) for decades and have been highly successful. They continue to make inroads into banning use of lead entirely: "Bald eagles across the United States are dying from lead poisoning": https://edition.cnn.com/2020/02/16/us/bald-eagles-dying-lead... "CALIFORNIA'S LEAD AMMO BAN IN EFFECT JULY 1[2019]": https://www.gohunt.com/read/news/californias-lead-ammo-ban-i... I…

What a hyperbolic reply. We just want them to use steel shot. It's really not a big deal.

Re: America’s bald eagle population continues to soar

#189

Post by throwanem »

post_below wrote: post #128

As superpower mascots go, I think the eagle turned out to be pretty much perfect. Large, powerful, masters of their environment, noble from a distance. Up close, easily scared, shameless scavengers who love the opportunity to steal prey from other creatures. Note: No intention of starting a political conversation, as a resident of said superpower I just love the irony.

Oh, I agree. I stopped respecting bald eagles after the first time I watched one harass an osprey into dropping the fish that she had actually worked to catch, in order to steal it and eat without going to any real effort. You don't need to see an osprey fishing but once to recognize that they work hard for a living, and I've seen that more times than I can count. Bald eagles are just big lazy thieving bullies and I haven't any use for them whatsoever - I don't even bother going for my camera any more when I see one.
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