This Bald Eagle, with a dead opossum in its talons, seems to spot the photographer while in a yard on Main Street in Acushnet, near Peters’ Orchard, on 9/29/24. Photo courtesy of Mike Ouimette.
By Beth David, Editor
A Bald Eagle has been spotted for a few weeks now in Acushnet. The majestic looking bird is a sight to behold in flight. It is, however, more of a thief than a hunter.
According to AllAboutBirds.org: “Rather than do their own fishing, Bald Eagles often go after other creatures’ catches. A Bald Eagle will harass a hunting Osprey until the smaller raptor drops its prey in midair, where the eagle swoops it up. A Bald Eagle may even snatch a fish directly out of an Osprey’s talons. Fishing mammals (even people sometimes) can also lose prey to Bald Eagle piracy.”
Benjamin Franklin famously did not want the Bald Eagle to be the symbol of the nation.
“For my own part, I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country,” he wrote in 1984. “He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. … Besides he is a rank Coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the District.”
The Bald Eagle has been the national emblem of the US since 1782. Native people have revered the bird as a spiritual symbol long before the Europeans arrived in North America.
Once almost extinct due to a variety of factors, Bald Eagles now number more than 316,000 according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.
Although they primarily eat fish and carrion, they will go after live mammals including pets and domestic livestock. Visit https://www.fws.gov/species/bald-eagle-haliaeetus-leucocephalus for more information.
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