I just didn't feel patriotic

[Thumbcocker]

Today I was driving through deep southern Illinois for work. there is some very interesting topography down there; for instance on the Cache river there is a cypress swamp habitat that would fit right in in south Louisiana. As I drive I like to watch the scenery and am usually on the lookout for assorted critters.


As I was driving down a secondary road between two highways I caught sight of a familiar silhouette, the majestic stature, the hooked beak. the brilliant white feathers on head and tail. Yes it was a bald eagle, our national symbol who adorns military buttons, seals of the government, and features prominently in many ads soaring in majestic flight over mountain scenery. This prime specimen was perched beside the road.....feeding on a dead opossum. Yup roadkill. I just couldn't feel the patriotism.

[Walkingwolf]

Not sure I agree, part of our history is our survival in lean times. IMO donating a roadkill deer to a poor family would be very patriotic.

BTW I have been in that part of the country, it is very redneck/hillbilly/conservative. Or at least it used to be.

[35 shooter]

Lots of folks are working two jobs now to make ends meet.
Maybe the Eagle was just on his secondary (part time) job...clean up detail?

Kinda, sorta patriotic.

[Point-Man]

Most eagles don`t know they are symbols of freedom and protected. Food is where you find it. Why kill something if food is just lying there.Listen to taps before you go to bed at night. Works for me.

[Mal Paso]

Didn't Ben Franklin object to a carrion feeder as our national bird and suggest the wild turkey?

Stan Freberg claims it was a mixup at the first Thanksgiving.


Scene Five: The Thanksgiving Story
Narrator: Needless to say, the luncheon there under the trees was a great success, and a good time was had by Puritan and Indian alike. Everything came of beautifully with the exception of one minor catastrophe.
Mayor: What do you mean you cooked the turkey, Charlie?
Charlie: Well, I cooked the turkey, that's all.
Mayor: You put our national bird in the oven. Is that correct?
Charlie: Yeah, well I, uh . . .
Mayor: And all of us had our mouths set for roast eagle with all the trimmings.
Charlie: Yeah, well I, uh . . .
Mayor: You did a thing like that?
Charlie: Well, the two birds were lying there side by side.
Mayor: The turkey was for the centerpiece, Charlie, I mean . . .
Charlie: Well, they looked so much alike that I, uh . . .
Mayor: Well, we blew it now. They're all sitting down at the tables out there.
Charlie: Yeah, yeah.
Mayor: . . . starting on their little nut cups already. Just have to switch the birds, that's all.
Charlie: Yeah, well . . .
Mayor: Serve them turkey instead of eagle. But it's kinda scrawny-lookin', isn't it?
Charlie: Yeah, well I thought I'd stuff some old bread in it and make it look a little fatter.
Mayor: You do that, OK? Charlie: OK.

[jeepyj]

We watched two adult Eagles at the cottage this weekend. My next door neighbor feeds them and we get some awesome photos

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[leeggen]

On our tv network we have a channel that shows an eagle nest. The TWRA put a camera up by the nest. Just this week the ole girl decided it is time to settle in and is setting on the nest. The cam is on 24hrs-7days, before I go to bed I check out how she is doing. The other evening there was a big black snake that had crawled up under the nest, by morning it was gone. The pair has nested here for a few years now.Beautiful birds so gentle at times and so vicious at times, as far as I am concern they can eat anything as long as it is not my farm animals.
CD

[abunaitoo]

Long time ago I went fishing in Canada.
They were all over the place.
We would play a game with them.
1) Get their attention by waving the fish in the air.
2) They will fly towards you really fast.
3) Just when the reach you, throw the fish as high in the air as possible.
4) They will catch it and take it back to their nest.
These things are really big birds when seen up close.
Guides told us to stop doing it. Said we could be arrested for harassing them.
He also told us that if we see a dead on, just ignore it.
He said if you don't have a certificate for any part of it, you will be arrested.

[Walkingwolf]

Long time ago I went fishing in Canada.
They were all over the place.
We would play a game with them.
1) Get their attention by waving the fish in the air.
2) They will fly towards you really fast.
3) Just when the reach you, throw the fish as high in the air as possible.
4) They will catch it and take it back to their nest.
These things are really big birds when seen up close.
Guides told us to stop doing it. Said we could be arrested for harassing them.
He also told us that if we see a dead on, just ignore it.
He said if you don't have a certificate for any part of it, you will be arrested.

Plus a person could get some nasty cuts. I had a MIL that I warned about feeding hawks in that manner with meat. One day she did not toss the meat fast enough, resulted in stitches on her head.

[johnson1942]

they are scavengers, they will eat what they find, dead or alive. one has been hanging around here of late. like them more away from my place as old jiggs my out side cat has to hide from anything in the air out here. they are pretty but they are scavengers.

[CLAYPOOL]

You were at The CACHE RIVER NATURAL AREA today. That site you drove by has a VERY NICE display and other things in that building that sits off the road about 200 yards or so. Very nice personal work there and will answer any and all questions about the local history of the area. VERY WORTH TAKING TIME TO SEE. Helped there many times over the years. The building is raised about 18 inches up out of the swamp. Look out the glass front into the wetland and area.

[slownsteady22]

Lived in the southern tip of IL about 12 years ago sportsman paradise, other than the strick gun/ammo laws. That eagle was making the best of a bad deal very American IMO.

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[Greg S]

You aught to see all of them at the dump in Kodiak, AK. They don't look so impressive all molted out and with stained feathers from going through the trash. It is pretty sad sight for suck a majestic symbol.

[richhodg66]

We moved to Kansas from Alaska and saw many, many more bald eagles here than in Alaska. They nest on big rocky lake shores like Milford and Tuttle Creek. When the lake freezes partially, you see them sitting out on it looking through any unfrozen parts, I presume to try to catch fish?

Magnificent birds, but a large portion of what they eat is carrion. And I agree, southern Illinois is beautiful, rode my mortorcycle across it a few years ago and was surprised how remote and unpopulated it was.

[oldarkie]

I had seven on a gut pile last deer season. They also think my chickens are delish.

[johnson1942]

when i lived on the canadian border years ago with forest and lakes all around the bald eagles would catch wild geese by the 100/s and pile them up so they froze in a pile that look like a beaver lodge in the winter. then they lived off that pile untill it run out. they cant be dumb if they can figure that out for winter food. a native american friend pointed that out to me when we were hunting deer in dec. other wise i would have walked by that mound thinking it was a beaver mound.

[Thumbcocker]

Illinois is a very diverse state and there are some wild and wooly places here. Check a map, Cairo Illinois is further south than Richmond Virginia. The bottom 1/3 of the state is often overlooked. Lots of hill folks and river folks. They have been hit hard by mine closures. Many folks here count on game meat and garden produce for most if what they eat. Be respectful and you can get along just fine.