A few birds from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
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Bald Eagle:The Regal Bald Eagle Bald Eagle Metervik One of the most dramatic bird moments I've ever had was many years ago while canoeing down the Charlie River in Alaska's Interior. I suddenly heard an airy buffeting sound above me and when I looked up I saw a pair of bald eagles plummeting downward toward the canoe, rolling over and over in the blue sky, their talons passionately interlocked, wings swinging around wildly, tumbling, tumbling, until almost directly in front of our bow, the lemon yellow feet unlocked and the giant birds put on the brakes, narrowly escaping a watery plunge into the river. My older son was in the bow of the canoe and asked what we had just seen. In a hushed voice, I told him it was part of the courtship or nuptial flight of the two eagles, preparatory to their mating and starting a family. We were both deeply awed by the performance and remember it vividly to this day. In spite of being adopted as our national emblem in 1782, this regal bird has been badly abused by us since then. Loss of waterside habitat and nesting trees, continued shooting, electrocution by high voltage power lines, and pollution of food have all taken their toll on their numbers. Especially during the DDT scourge of the mid 20th century, the bald eagle suffered drastic declines in its population in the Lower 48 states. Only after its inclusion on the Endangered Species list in most states, and the banning of DDT in 1972, did it begin to gradually rebound. Fortunately, in Alaska there is still ample habitat for this majestic bird. For this reason, it ranges throughout the state except north of the Brooks Range. Perhaps for this reason the northern Inupiat do not have a name for the bald eagle. The Yupik people of the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, however, do have a name. Metervik is the name people gave me in Scammon Bay. This changes to metervak in Hooper Bay. It's curious, though, that during the eight years I was in both of these villages I didn't see a single bald eagle. In fact, although the bald eagle may wander as far as that stretch of the Bering Sea coast, it is found more commonly on wooded parts of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers, where it is generically called yaqulpak, yaqulvak, or tengmiarpak, all of these meaning simply, big bird. The scientific name for the bald eagle is Haliaeetus leucocephalus, which is Greek for, "white-headed sea eagle." Its common name refers to its white head which is suggestive of a bald pate. The word bald (balde) is from the old English, meaning simply, white. Bald eagles usually eat fish which they either catch themselves or scavenge from the shore. They also may take fish away from ospreys. Road-killed mammals are another source of food for them, as are injured or shot and crippled waterfowl. They will sometimes take on larger healthy prey, however. Last spring, I watched a pair of bald eagles carry away a sandhill crane after they had knocked it down in Creamer's Field in Fairbanks. When these birds are four or five years old their tail and head finally become white. They are now full adults and can seriously start courting potential mates. By early spring, life-long pair bonds have been established and newly mated pairs either take over old nests or begin building their own new ones. They do this in the fork of a tall tree or sometimes on a cliff ledge. Their nests can be quite large, often seven to eight feet across, and very deep. They use sticks for the foundation, then line it with mosses, grasses, feathers or other soft materials. This nest may be used by the same and other pairs for more than 35 years. Between April and May in Alaska, the female usually lays two bluish-white eggs. She and her mate both incubate the eggs on their huge nest for about 35 days, after which the young begin to hatch. The egg that was laid first hatches first, so this bird has all of the advantages over its sibling. There is so much competition between them that the weaker one is sometimes killed by its stronger nest mate, or more frequently it simply starves to death. After another 75 days or so of hard work by both adults, their young take wing for the first time. For a few more weeks the young hang near the nest, learning from their parents how to feed themselves and survive in a world made more and more dangerous by human intrusions. Although numbers of bald eagles are not high in most of the Lower 48 states, they are still healthy in Alaska. In fact, if you want to see the largest concentration of bald eagles in the world, go in mid-November to Haines, Alaska, where between 3-4000 of them may gather along a 10 mile stretch of the Chilkat River to scavenge dead or spent salmon after the salmon run there.  |
