Last Friday morning, I was out traveling around Swartswood Lake in Sussex County. What a beautiful day—and I had a lot of different bird sightings!

In one special incident, I noticed an osprey hovering over the lake when he suddenly dove, quickly dropping, talons extended, splashing into and under the water! After a few seconds out of sight, he came up and out of the water with a nicely sized fish! But that’s not the end of the story: the osprey wasn’t 20 feet above the water when an immature bald eagle made a couple of passes at him, trying to steal the fish! 

I wish this all wasn’t so far across the lake. It would have made a great movie! I was thinking, what luck, witnessing an osprey fishing followed immediately by an eagle trying to steal the fish! Then I was thinking, this might be a nice Photo of the Week article!!  While the incident was not in Warren County, I decided to check my files for photos of Bald Eagle!

FAST FACTS ON BALD EAGLES

The Bald Eagle is a bird of prey found in North America.  A sea eagle, it’s usually found near large bodies of open water, including lakes, rivers, marshes, and seacoasts, across most of Canada and Alaska, all the contiguous United State, and Mexico.  Famous for their white, “bald” heads, young bald eagles are sometimes confused with other birds of prey because they are mostly dark brown. They don’t gain their signature look until four to five years old. 

Their wingspan ranges from about 6-8 feet and they can weigh between 6 and 14 pounds. Perhaps most impressively, they glide up to 43 miles per hours and can dive up to 99 MILES PER HOUR!

DID YOU KNOW? The Great Seal of the United States features a bald eagle.

Once endangered due to pesticides, our national bird is now making a comeback. Bald Eagles and Osprey are often found near each other as they are both fish eaters. However, they hunt differently.

Ospreys dive into the water to catch their prey, but Bald Eagles snatch fish from the surface with their massive talons. Bald Eagles aren’t afraid to steal food from smaller birds, like the osprey I saw, or even eat water fowl or carrion if necessary!

The photo of a bald eagle in the snow above, taking in the field off Youngs Island Road, is a good example of bald eagles eating carrion.  That photo was taken Feb. 12, 2015, and on that day I witnessed FIVE bald eagles foraging on a deer carcass in the field.  That time of year had been a very cold spell and a lot of ponds and lakes were frozen over forcing the eagles to forage on carrion.

QUESTION:  Which landmark U.S. Law was partly inspired by the bald eagle?

ANSWER:  The Endangered Species Act of 1973.  One of the simplest functions of the act is to assign a ‘listing status’ to the various animal species.  When you hear a creature referred to as ‘endangered’ – that’s the act of 1973 in effect.  A rapid decline in bald eagle populations was one of the motivating factors in establishing the Endangered Species Act of 1973.

For additional Bald Eagle photos, please visit my Flickr site!

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran  

Charlie Fineran is Allamuchy’s Director of Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission Chairman and Allamuchy Historical Society President.