bald eagle!

Phil and I were in Lancaster PA this past weekend. Driving around the backroads to find a raw milk farm, I spotted a Bald Eagle sitting in a farmer's field, eating a Canada goose! We pulled over to watch, and the huge bird took off. As we watched the huge bird winging away, a Sharp Shinned hawk showed up and started dive-bombing the eagle.

It seems late for both the Baldie and the Goose to be still on their migration south.


Phil with the goose.


The farmer's field.


Close-up with the goose.
Sadly, I missed photographing the eagle and hawk.

Bald eagles build nest on local farm
By AD CRABLE, Staff
Lancaster New Era

Published: Jan 10, 2008 12:26 PM EST

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Farmer Jake Stoltzfus has been told he might want to keep an eye on his baby Boer goats.

In an unusual but not unprecedented occurrence, a pair of bald eagles has erected a huge stick nest in farmland along Mill Creek, between Intercourse and New Holland.

Lancaster County has become a hotbed in recent years for resurgent bald eagles. But normally they like to set up home along big bodies of water such as the Susquehanna River, Middle Creek Lake or Octoraro Reservoir. Fish is a staple of their diet.

But this pair of eagles has settled high up in the fork of a large tree among a triangle of three Amish farms on the Leacock-Upper Leacock border, far from any large body of water.

The nest, visible from more than a mile in this flat Mill Creek valley, is just a long glide from a one-room Amish school.

Local residents, many of whom have never seen an eagle before, have been mesmerized by the large birds of prey diving for fish in the creek and at their engineering talents in erecting a stick nest the size of a car.

One farmer was awed when he observed an eagle swoop down at full speed on a tree branch the size of a baseball bat, snap it off and keep on flying, all in one continuous motion.

"So far, it's been interesting," says Stoltzfus.

Residents say the white-headed pair hung out a year ago but apparently only this year were they mature enough to mate and try to produce young of their own.

Bald eagles don't reach adulthood until they are 4 or 5 years old.

The pair dutifully started constructing their nest in October and still are putting on the finishing touches. Female eagles normally lay eggs in late February or early March.

Poultry houses might be a big reason eagles come to farm country. Farmers sometimes throw dead poultry outside or grind it up and spread it on fields as manure.

Their reputation as magnificent raptors notwithstanding, eagles are opportunists and are quite willing to play the role of scavengers.

The nest is in an area where the Game Commission and Paradise Sportsman's Association, in cooperation with farmers, have fenced off stream banks, allowing vegetation to grow up. That increases populations of rabbits, rodents and other animals and that, too, might have drawn the eagles.

Curiously, both of the previous known eagle nests in Lancaster County farm country in recent years failed to produce any young.

A pair of eagles set up a nest in Paradise Township in 2001 and 2002 but the nest failed both years. Another nest near Smyrna, Sadsbury Township, likewise was unsuccessful.

Doug Gross, an ornithologist who heads the Game Commission's bald eagle program, says the reason for the failures is unknown. "We just don't know. Maybe human disturbance.

"Bald eagles seem to be spreading out from core areas, from big rivers," Gross says. "Waste set out on fields is a big source of food, particularly in winter. The southeast Pennsylvania landscape has a lot of quality streams. They like streams with big trees nearby. "

In 2007, there were 10 active eagle nests in Lancaster County, mostly along the Susquehanna. There were three nest failures because nests or eaglets were blown out of trees in severe spring storms. York County also had 10 active nests, mostly near the river.

Statewide, there were a record 128 nesting pairs of eagles, up from 116 the previous year

Eagle nests are typically 4 to 6 feet across and can weigh up to 2 tons when added to over several years.

The new nest is 3 miles north of Intercourse and 2 miles south of New Holland. A safe vantage point to observe the nest and eagles is from the Zeltenreich United Church of Christ parking lot at North Hollander and Peters roads. People are forbidden from walking near the nest. The Game Commission can fine those who do.

There is at least one bald eagle a lot closer to home than the one you saw in PA. A few weeks ago our local newspaper (Watkins Glen Review) printed a picture of a bald eagle eating a duck on Seneca Lake near Valois. I think the eagle has been sticking around in that a bald eagle recording was made during a recent bird count for the area.

Diane

The local eagle on Seneca Lake was spotted in Catharine Marsh (Montour Falls) over this past weekend (2/3/08). My family hopes to get over there and see if we can see him !! Maybe I'll try tomorrow morning if it's not raining cats and dogs.