ABC Wednesday - E is for Eagle

Continuing on with the alphabet, we are now at the letter E for the blog hop at ABC Wednesday - E.  Because I have spent a fair amount of time birding, and we live where eagles live, choosing E is for Eagles is a natural.  Please click the link to see what others have chosen as their E word for their posts for this challenge.

E is for Eagles

In the state of Oregon in the USA, there are two kinds of eagles, the bald eagle and the golden eagle.  The bald eagle is typically larger in height (up to 43") and wingspan (up to 8') but about the same in weight as the golden eagle (up to 14 lbs.). Females are generally larger than the males. They can live as long as 28 years.

Although there were many eagles in the area when the European settlers arrived, the population of the eagles decreased over the years because of their only known enemy, man. They were shot because the settlers thought they were a threat to the livestock.  Trees which had been their nesting areas were chopped down.  After WWII DDT was introduced and caused the shells of the eggs to be thinner, so not as many eaglets survived. 

Eagles were considered an endangered species in the lower 48 states prior to 1973.  In 1978 there were no known bald eagles between Portland OR and Eugene OR.  Bald eagles were finally removed from the federal threatened and endangered species list in 2007. 

Eagles are foragers.  In our area eagles frequent the fields where there are sheep, especially during lambing time. They eat the afterbirth.  Sometimes they will eat a sheep which is already dead due to natural causes, or possibly one killed by a coyote.

Golden eagle nest in Eastern Oregon

Ewe with lambs

Sheep, guardian llama, and juvenile bald eagle, Linn County, OR

Mature bald eagle in Marion County, Oregon

Click here for more information about these majestic birds.