During my winter break, I had two separate experiences with bald eagles as they did their bald eagle thing. This was a suspiciously short amount of time between consecutive bald eagle sightings for me. Why did this happen? What is going on with the bald eagles?
I think it means they’re up to something rather mysterious and potentially nefarious. Are they working on creating a sports betting app in New York? Are they starting a fledgling candle company? Could it be they’re trying to knock off Amy on “Jeopardy?” I can imagine a befuddled Ken Jennings digging through the “Jeopardy” rulebook and then coming to a very simple conclusion—“Well, there’s no rule stating a group of 11 bald eagles can’t play ‘Jeopardy’ as a single contestant.” For this reason and many more, I’m keeping a close watch on the latest in bald eagle news.
The story that’s rocking the bald eagle newsworld right now is the experience of one bald eagle that took a 80 mile train ride on January 11th across Wisconsin (La Crosse Tribune 2021). By that I mean this particular bald eagle was hit by a train and then was stuck in the train’s front guard for 80 miles. After being rescued and taken to the Van Loon Animal Hospital, X-rays were able to deduce that the eagle had no fractures or internal damage. Eagles are hard-contact, diving hunters so getting hit by a train is sometimes not a big deal for them apparently. This bald eagle should be able to return to the wilderness soon and meet its local eagle neighbors, hopefully with a fresh, positive outlook: “I’m young, I’m unfractured, and I’m new in town.”
In other news, there’s been a bit of a problem for bald eagles––they are eating bullets and it is killing them. According to a recent report from CBS News, population growth for bald eagles is being stunted by lead poisoning, with population growth declining from 6 percent to 4 percent with males. Hunters who leave their kills in the wilderness often leave lead fragments in the animals, and these fragments are later consumed by other animals like the bald eagle, contributing to lead poisoning. Time will tell how the bald eagles will respond, whether it be collectively developing an awareness/charity pop anthem e.g. “We are the World” or maybe a pay-per-view boxing match between six hunters and the Philadelphia Eagles mascot.
Lastly, it’s important to know that January is primetime to watch bald eagle live streams. Now is the season for egg laying and egg hatching, and you can watch these hidden nest cams (with multiple hidden angles) right from the comfort of your chair. In Northeast Florida, Samson and Gabrielle are anxiously awaiting the hatching of their two eggs (Fox News 2022). Jackie just laid another one in Southern California (NBC Los Angeles 2022). Talk about drama. Not only is this a tremendous opportunity to find out what crazy schemes these eagles have planned, it’s a chance to see the eagle world like you never have before. If you ever wanted to have a deeply moving connection with a bald eagle family, this may be the best means for doing that. Gabrielle in northeast Florida does many exciting things at night, such as sitting in one place for a really long time, that thing where they put their head in their wing and of course, intense staring.
I implore you to keep up on your bald eagle news these next few months. It could be that the bald eagles aren’t joining together to carry out any morally questionable schemes, such as a hotel for lizards. Maybe they’re just going about their eagle lives day to day, finding a way to get by. As we all know, making your way in the world today takes everything you got. But maybe that’s just what the bald eagles want us to think. And maybe they’ve got hidden cameras too.