Over the Hedge by T Lewis and Michael Fry for February 20, 2025

Air of majesty that gets propped up as a mighty hunter but eats what others did the work to bring down and gets all the credit.

Perfect American symbol, really.

Are humans scavengers because the meat we eat is already dead when we get it, or are we predators because we (or at least some of us) kill the animals.

Back when I was a student pilot in Washington State in the late 90s, I was once out flying some solo practice manoeuvres in my Cessna. I looked out of my side window and saw a bald eagle gliding alongside my plane, perhaps fifteen feet away. He was clearly watching me, and the expression on his face looked pretty much like “Ruddy amateur”. A few seconds later he peeled away and went about his business, but that was one of my most memorable flying experiences. Magnificent bird.

The best picture I saw of Bald Eagle It was landing on a pile of Garbage in Alaska !

Bald eagles are fish eagles. They love fish. They’re also lazy and have been known to pirate fish from ospreys. They tend not to pirate fish from seagulls because (a) seagulls like smaller fish and (b) seagulls tend to move in large flocks and will come after the eagles and mob them.

Bald eagles also like waterfowl, mostly ducks, as geese and swans will put a serious hurt on them. My sister used to live in Way Far North Michigan, and some bald eagles nested in a tree near her. A pair of swans nested on the creek bank behind her house. The eagles conspicuously stayed far, far, FAR away from the swans. Both the eagles and the swans were regulars, coming back several years. That creek was full of fish, and the eagles didn’t have to pirate.

The least liked/tolerated birds of prey. They get zero respect from their kind and others.

The buzzards would like a word with you.

Eagles have no issues with road kill. They just have to get to it before the turkey vultures do.

We made a mistake not accepting Ben’s suggestion to make the Turkey the national bird.

I like Bald Eagles. But, since I am a Citizen of the Cherokee Nation, I also like Golden Eagles. In the Cherokees original homelands, the Cherokees chose the Golden Eagle as their eagle. I bought a bisque fired figurine at a flea market with 2 eagles fighting. Because of how the Cherokees were treated by the US Government, I painted the upper one as the Bald Eagle and the lower one as the Golden Eagle.

I agree with Benjamin Franklin. The turkey was a better choice as a symbol.

Bald eagles have a wimpy sounding call

Every time I go to the town dump there are at least two dozen bald eagles hanging around in all stages of maturity. Some on the building roof, some on the power poles, many just sitting in the garbage pile. And during deer season you can always tell where somebody shot a deer by the eagles hanging around eating the entrails.

He eats carrion… a goodly amount of the United States senators should be getting nervous about now.

Buffy Saint Marie in one of her songs…“the eagles of war whose wings lent you glory They were never no more than carrion crows, Pushed the wrens from their nest, stole their eggs, changed their story; The mockingbird sings it, it’s all that he knows.” The song is “My Country Tis Of Thy People We’re Dying”

Bald eagles are also muggers. I saw two Bald eagles mug an osprey carrying a fish, one swooped on the osprey, causing it to drop the fish, and the other eagle grabbed the fish in mid-air.

Checking your baggage is so expensive that I do carrion too.

“As everyone knows, the eagle’s supposed to be the symbol of freedom,They’re very respected, government protected, it’s against the law to eat’em. On cigars you puff, and American stuff, and flags that wag in the wind..On dollars and collars and medals for scholars, the eagle is proudly pinned…

… there once was an eagle, who was not very regal, by the name of Jay Edgar Swoop…"

There are several more verses…I’ve forgotten them, but thank you Mason Williams c.1965