Tuesday, September 21, 2004

Eagles (This time I mean the kind that fly)

Eagles winter in Arizona (who wouldn't?) and hatch their eaglets. The local neighborhood paper always has info on rescued eaglets, and their progress. There are a few families of eagles that live in the wash and desert around our house. The other day I actually had to swerve out off the road to avoid hitting a large eagle (it was balding, had yellow claws!) that misjudged its takeoff distance before I drove by. There is talk about taking the eagle off the endangered species list --one of the articles stated that there is only a 40% survival rate, due to a variety of situations, one of which was running into cars. I felt sad about that as, close up, it was magnificent and huge. Some of the eaglets raised in captivity are tracked with transmitters upon release, and often show up in Minnesota and other rather distant places for the sumer. They really are remarkable to see in flight. I would vote for keeping them on the endangered list so crazy people don't start doing things like hunting or stuffing them, and depeleting the population for future generations to behold.