Cold Eagle

On the earlier blog this week, I talked about cold and wet eagles being helped by the Fish and Wildlife Department.

Here is a slide presentation of the one we saw last year. (Some of you might have received it as an email last year, with different music.)

It was on the Saturday before either Palm Sunday or Easter. I thought it was great to see an eagle so still and right there at eye level. Temperature was just at freezing. Cold enough for the snow to collect, but soon melt into water. Not until I noted that it couldn't fly, did I think anything was wrong. According to the newspaper, Fish and Wildlife sent it off to a rehab center in Anchorage.

At this time of the year we find many skeletons of animals which did not survive winter. A winter of poor eating, and temperatures which let the snow melt and then soak through their feathers and fur is the culprit.

I don't know if last year's eagle (or the 2 sent to rehab last month) survived to be freed again.

So my advice to you is what I have learned form these old animals. Don't just let snow pile up on you: get moving and shake it off before it gets into your skin, feathers, or fur.