throughout the southeast bald eagles have found a new ecological niche, and are exploiting it…. seagulls at the landfill !!! it seems that seagulls are drawn to all the free waste food we throw away. there are swarms of them at the landfills. bald eagles (always opportunists at heart) have discovered that the gulls are easy prey, and have established large, stable breeding populations at three landfills i know of near here.
at each site, they congregate in the trees on the eastern edge of the landfill. it’s an impressive sight, a dozen or so baldies, perched in the trees like customers at a deli, waiting for a nice, plump gull to come within easy reach.
as long as we as a society throw out massive amounts of food scraps, the gulls will thrive. as long as the gulls thrive, the eagles will have a smorgasbord. i don’t see america changing our trash generating habits anytime soon – the eagles have a subsidized meal ticket for the forseeable future. i don’t know if this is happening elsewhere, but here in the deep south, we have plenty of baldies.