Not everyone loves us...

robert hasty wrote:... keeping wildlife as wild as possible is the only thing i can come up with.

robert hasty wrote:Any names on that list which are doing nothing to stop the feedings probably shouldnt be on there anyway. . . .

. . . Lesson learned!

Regarding feeding eagles, the answer depends on how you frame the question. Eagles, like most wildlife, are opportunistic feeders. If you provide a food source they'll utilize it. Hand outs are an easy fix, compared to the energy it takes to actively search for and secure food. This may be important on an individual level during periods when sources of food are scarce and other environmental stresses are high. Small scale, short term, or sporadic feedings will have relatively limited impact overall. It may help a particular bird "get over the hump" during a difficult time, but the primary benefit is that people have the opportunity to view the birds up close. You can argue that this potentially builds a constituency that values wildlife, and (may) supports efforts to maintain populations and habitat when conflicts with development occur. The problem with providing a sustained source of food is that over time it maintains an artificially high population level. This can be problematic, particularly if that source of food is eliminated later on. In the mid-1980s, Juneau started incinerating garbage; prior to that point there was an open land fill. Bald eagles are very abundant in southeastern Alaska, and the food source provided by the dump artificially boosted the population in the immediate area. I do volunteer work for the Juneau Raptor Center. After they starting burning garbage, we were inundated with eagles with no other problem other than that they were starving. In short, 1) the population was too high, and 2) the birds had grown up dependent on the land fill, and were not experienced enough to make the transition once that source of food had been eliminated. It took several years for the population to come down to "normal" levels. Ironically, the Juneau has recently eliminated garbage incineration due to costs. It's a funny world we live in.

E.J. Peiker wrote:Pasquale's Red-tailed Hawk that is sitting in water reminded me of a situation where I encountered a Norther Harrier completely under water with the exception of his head - not sure why he was in this position. Along came some drunk golfers and startled the bird and the bird flew right out of the water and took off. Why am I saying this, well I would think that if a Harrier can go from complete submersion to flight, why wouldn't an Eagle be able to lift off with wet wings?