sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu (Daan Sandee) (12/13/90)
In article <1599@cluster.cs.su.oz.au> andrewt@cluster.cs.su.oz (Andrew Taylor) writes: >Isn't the Bald Eagle reputation and hence its choice as US national bird >based (anthromorphically) on its appearance? I thought, like many eagles, >it is by preference a timid scavenger, taking live prey only when carrion is >unavailable. >Does the Bald Eagles range touch Asia? In other words are there >Soviet Bald Eagles? > >Andrew Yes, the Bald Eagle has an undeserved reputation as a ferocious animal. It really is a rather timid carrion eater. Favorite food is dead or dying fish and small, easy to catch mammals (dead preferred to live). There are other eagles, however, that prefer live prey. But the falcons and some accipiters are true raptors in that they kill live animals of a size approaching (sometimes exceeding) their own. The Bald Eagle is casual on the Arctic shore of Siberia but it doesn't nest there. It is reasonable to call it an American bird. Daan Sandee sandee@sun16.scri.fsu.edu Supercomputer Computations Research Institute Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4052 (904) 644-7045