EAGLES!!!

[GoodEgg]

Ok, I give up.

My standard pullets and my ducks are just about too big for the smaller hawks that come around. The red-tails will always be something of a threat.

But this is too much. Now we have a pair of eagles overhead. At least I think they must be eagles. Wingspan appears to be WELL over 6 feet ...

According to the range info, we should have bald eagles here. If so, these were juvies. I would think this was cool if it wasn't for our ducks and chickens.

I locked the ducks up in the middle of the day, which we never do. They don't have a run, just a small coop (well, actually a rabbit hutch).

I guess I'm going to try stringing fishing line over the back yard. It's about all I can afford for such a large area.

At least the eagles seem to have a lot more respect for human beings. They stayed well away, which is more than I can say for the hawks. But I can't be out there all the time. Wonder if a scarecrow (scare-eagle?) would work?

trish

 

[ozark hen]

Hey Trish, are you sure they are eagles and not buzzards? We have tons of buzzards here during the spring thru fall season and they do not attack poultry. I am glad when I see them soaring the thermals above us. They are nature's garbage men...just take dead things. I don't see any sign of the red tailed hawks with the buzzards and crows in the sky. I saw a bunch of crows running off a red tailed just this week. We have turkey buzzards and their wing-span is huge. I hope that is what you are seeing???

 

[GoodEgg]

No, not completely sure. I could WISH they were buzzards. We do have buzzards around here, pretty big ones.

These guys were really up there, so it was hard to tell. I think the wings outline was a little more tapered and had a bit more of a point to that front joint, but I can't be positive. I just saw the outline. They were too far overhead to get a look at the head.

I can hope you are right. I'd rather have buzzards flying around up there than eagles! When we checked the range for large eagles and found bald eagles here, the first thing on that webpage for forage was "waterfowl" (although I think they eat more fish than ducks).

When I lived in Louisiana I remember seeing buzzards circling all the time.

Oh, and I love the crows now too. They do a good job of chasing off the hawks, or at the very least warning of them. I like to see crows or doves on the electric lines so I know there are no hawks nearby.

trish

 

[ozark hen]

I think you are safe even if they are eagles...only saying that since they were up so high. I would think they would come down closer if they were interested but I don't know. I saw a bald eagle last fall but I didn't have poultry then. Never heard any of the other farmers mention a problem with them and one raises them for Tyson!!

 

[peepkeeper]

I've seen some bald eagles around my area, but never around inhabited areas,. My guess is that they'll keep to themselves (if it was an eagle) and you'll never be bothered. They seem to stay away from humans.

 

[Zenbirder]

I also doubt you will have a problem. Now having said that here is a true story:

One family of my relatives was homesteading here in New Mexico by the Gila river. The toddler was playing in the dirt by the log cabin, when an eagle tried to take her. The Mom beat the eagle off with a broom. The girl lived, but had scars on her back for the rest of her life. When she died as an older woman, 1930's sometime I think, the river was flooded and they could not ford and bring her body to town. They took the doors off the house and built a coffin and laid her to rest on the land. I have been to the grave site, it is a very remote place that few have been to. No signs of the house, but there is a board grown into the split trunk of a tree where someone used it as an outdoor table and her grave marker that is kept up by my family.

 

[lacyloo]

 

[Standard Hen]

That is a cool story Zen.

 

[Hotwings]

I would of loved to actually see a wild bald eagle. I thought bald eagles were mostly a fish bird. The only large birds we have here are turkey vultures. They like to soar over a vacant large office building next to where I work. Sometimes there will be a whole bunch up soaring away. They truly look like the seem to be enjoying themselves up there soaring on the thermals.

 

[joanm]

We had a pair of eagles that nested for a few years on the lake that’s down the road from me. People would drive out here just to get a glimpse of them. They are awesome to watch.