We spotted a bald eagle, (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) flying over Port Jefferson Village in Suffolk County , New York yesterday December 12, 2021. High up in the blue sky the dark “ironing board” shaped wings and the white head were unmistakable markers for an adult. It made a few slow turns perhaps two to three hundred feet up and then glided off toward the East going toward Long Island Sound. It was my first glimpse of this beautiful species here in Brookhaven Town. But others have reported sitings recently over central Long Island and some report a nesting site not far away some place in a north shore community.
It’s amazing that in 1960 there were only less then five hundred nesting pairs in all of the lower 48, and now ornithologists claim there may be 150,000 individuals in the USA. This is clearly an example of how we can by controlling harmful and persistent pesticides and establishing protective laws we can win the war against species extinctions.
Another great success is the bird Benjamin Franklin preferred as the national bird the American Turkey, (Meleagris gallopavo)/there were none on Long Island perhaps since the mid 18th century. While doing field work in a rural area a farm field in Riverhead in the 1970s I saw my first Turkey track and photographed it as extraordinary. Then perhaps a year later again in the field in Riverhead, I spotted my first Turkey roosting on a tree. Today huge flocks of them are reported from all over Long Island. They often stop traffic when a big flock crosses a road. Just this fall a report from East Quogue Long Island indicated that a back yard was invaded by a flock of twenty Turkey.
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