Their presence underscores the dramatic return of a bird nearly pushed to extinction and of the improving health of Toronto’s sprawling green spaces and waterways.
Bald eagles, a bird perhaps more associated with the imagery of North America than any other fauna, are a rare ecological success story.
Once common throughout the continent – including in the area that became the city of Toronto – the bird was soon seen as a pest for settlers and farmers. Local authorities encouraged the widespread slaughter of the raptors, promising bounties in exchange for carcasses.
And although policies were later changed and protections were introduced, eagle populations continued to dwindle, especially in urban areas.
Richest bald eagles on the planet, those nests with that view easily north of 10Million
It’s not a great sign for the upcoming US election that even the bald eagles are preemptively moving to Canada.
They’ve been happily living in British Columbia all along.
If I’m recalling correctly, there was one statistic in the 1970s along the lines that there were more bald eagles living in Vancouver’s Stanley Park than in the lower 48 US states.
No effort at all to see their nests from the outdoor theatre at Malkin Bowl.
https://stanleyparkecology.ca/2018/02/28/eagles-nesting-stanley-park/
It’s amazing how much the bald eagle population recovered. As a child and then an adult growing up in SW Ontario, I never even saw a bald eagle. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s, and after we moved out west that I saw my first one, in 2013. I saw two that year. Then two or three the next year. Then even more the year after, and got nice and close to a juvenile on a golf course at our company tournament.
Fast forward to today, and I know of about 5 nests in the the park near our house, and I always see at least one when I’m near that area. I go for bike rides in the summer evenings, and it’s rare that I don’t see at least one near the river.
Even back home, there’s two nesting down at the river in the field behind my parents house. I saw the mother of all bald eagles on a drive near my parents place last year too. It’s crazy (and super awesome) how that’s changed over even the last decade.
Don’t mind us Canada, just keeping an eye on things.
Do bald eagles eat raccoons? I heard this food source is plentiful in Toronto!
If it’s dead, yes. They eat mostly fish, but also carrion.
