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Thanks for visiting OodlesOnBaldEagles.com. We are here to give you the latest information on the american bald eagle. Enjoy your visit. The Recovery of the Bald EagleAfter many years believing that the bald eagle wasn't far from extinction, this iconic American symbol has made a historic comeback. The bald eagle was found to be endangered in 1940 and a law was passed, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, to protect it from hunting. Once the threat from hunting was gone, the species found its numbers declining further by the ingestion of DDT. The bald eagle was included on the endangered species list in 1973, and the species hit a low point in 1963 with only 417 breeding pairs.Far from the expected extinction of the treasured national symbol, the bald eagle has since made a dramatic recovery. The more than 9,000 breeding pairs that exist today have made experts drop the species from the list of endangered species. But, the species will not be left entirely alone by the experts. Bald eagles will be tracked and their numbers monitored for the next five years. If the monitoring shows a decline in the number of breeding pairs, experts can then move to get the bird back onto the endangered species list. Even without being reclassified as endangered, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act is still there to keep the animal from being hunted. The eagles also have the protection of the1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act. This act made hunting the bald eagle, as well as other migratory birds, illegal in the United States and in certain other countries. For eagles that make their way into Canada or Mexico, the treaty is in effect in those countries to stop the trade of eagle feathers, eggs and other parts that could make the hunting of eagles lucrative. Bald eagles have been further protected by the 1972 federal ban on DDT. The toxic chemical penetrated the entire food chain, resulting in the deaths of eagles as well as many other bird species. The pesticide washed from the fields to the waterways and eventually into bald eagles. When the eagles caught fish from these lakes and streams, the fish had already been contaminated. DDT kept bald eagles from being able to create eggshells with enough calcium to keep them strong enough to support the embryos. The havoc wreaked by DDT made it difficult for the species to reproduce as mother eagles cracked their own thin eggs in an attempt to incubate them. With DDT now gone, the number of bald eagles can continue to grow. Bald Eagle Facts -It can be a migratory bird but it also is not unheard of for a nesting pair to overwinter in its breeding area. -The Bald Eagle is a powerful flier, and soars on thermal convection currents. - It is found near large bodies of open water with an abundant food supply and old-growth trees for nesting. Don't forget that even if your immediate quest isn't answered in this article, you could even take it further by doing a search on Google.com to get specific information on this topic or other bald eagle facts topics such as "make model bald eagle bird", "mark miller bald eagle", and "who can kill bald eagle". Bald Eagle Statues and other decor items: - Bald Eagle: Natural History Notebooks online from the Canadian Museum Bald Eagle - WDNR Bald Eagle Harley-Davidson Bald Eagle - EnchantedLearning.com The Bald Eagle, Symbol of our Nation Tags: wildlife, nature, birds, science, eagles
Before I start, I finally finished putting together a “12 of 12 of 12″ - a best of from last year’s 12 of 12 posts, as I completed the whole year. You can see it here! Given the last few 12 of 12s have been on work days, and I felt a bit stifled as a result (well each month was get up, dark, commute, work, commute, dark, eat… not much variety in photos, and so I wasn’t as happy with their quality), this month, I took the 12th off. We’ve had a lot of grey, overcast days and even fog recently. Yesterday was a lovely blue sky and even a bit sunny. Typically, today it was grey and rainy. I know why this is. It’s because I went to Westminster. Honestly, it always rains when I go there. I hadn’t even planned on going there right away - I’d meant to get the Central line up to around Notting Hill Gate, then walk down through Kensington Gardens, down to the Natural History Museum maybe, then over to Green Park, down to St. James’ Park, Westminster and maybe over to Leicester Square. Only I went on autopilot, and got the Jubilee line. I remembered I had today off OK - I just forgot I didn’t have to get the Jubilee today, which I normally get to work… [doh]. So, change of plan. Get off at Westminster and do a different route. Poke my head out of the station and find it’s drizzling rain. Balls. So, off to the Natural History Museum. As always, credit goes to the lovely Chad, who is Awesome. And you can see everyone else’s 12s here. 1) 11:15am - Westminster Tube station, London Going up the escalator, and trying to keep my balance while fishing my camera out of my bag, switching it on and changing settings, and a little blur due to movement. But I like it - it’s a little ghost-like. 2) 11:44am - Natural History Museum, London Grey, rainy weather - but some people are still on the outdoor ice rink at the Natural History Museum. 3) 11:54am - Natural History Museum, London Poor dodo… he does not look impressed with how his lot turned out. 4) 12:05pm - Natural History Museum, London
Up in the primates/evolution section, there were all these monkey skeletons suspended in the air. Go on now, who else has “Defying Gravity” in their heads? Hah, you do now 5) 12:09pm - Natural History Museum, London
Monkey detail from one of the columns by the stairs on an upper level. I gave this a touch of sharpening in Elements - the colour version of this was slightly sharper, but I preferred the black and white photo I took as well. 6) 12:16pm - Natural History Museum, London
The inside of the main hall of the museum is beautiful, architecture-wise. Remember this photo, one of my favourites I’ve ever taken? Well that was from the corner of the top level, by the Giant Sequoia Tree. This one is taken from halfway down to the level below (with the primates and evolution), and in the middle. I’ve included a close up of the ceiling, which is pretty and I like the colours:
7) 12:23pm - Natural History Museum, London
I saw a few guys sketching the architecture in the museum (and I’d see plenty of people sketching the sculptures in the V&A Museum, next). It was only because I couldn’t see his face, that I took the photo. I liked that people would go specifically to draw the museum’s beautiful design.
Oh. Oh my. I actually did a double take when I first saw this. I’m not a total spelling and grammar maven, but this did make me wince. It’s in the Natural History Museum of all places, you’d think they could check the spelling. Oddly enough, they had the same message running on two screens. The left hand one had it spelled correctly. I will tell you, I came *this* close to actually stopping a member of staff and pointing it out. But I decided it’s one thing to be a grammar nut. Stopping someone might make them think I’m a real nut… 9) 1:25pm - V&A (Victoria & Albert) Museum, London
I had been playing around more with the Manual setting on the camera today (you can see the results especially in photos 4 (the flying monkey), 5 (monkey detail) and 6 (the roof photos), which I think were all Manuals. I learnt a little about adjusting the settings more for light. And this one took some doing, more from a framing perspective than anything else. I wanted the cropping to come just above the dark statue’s head, but for the white statue to be visible in the background, to give a contrast of light and dark. Overall, I think it worked! Another shot got the white statue slightly more visible (I must have stood another inch or two to the left), but someone was standing behind the dark statue, blocking the gap between his legs. This seemed the slightly better photo. 10) 1:30pm - V&A (Victoria & Albert) Museum, London
Female head busts all in a row. More fun with the Manual settings! 11) 1:58pm - V&A (Victoria & Albert) Museum, London
I’ve seen a few of these now. Some in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens, when I visited there. Someone posted some in their 12 of 12 last month. It’s beautiful, but I’m afraid my mind keeps being… distracted. I’d have put that slightly more openly, but I know of at least one work colleague (well, former colleague) who reads this…!! (on that note, I might end up linking this to current colleagues, so please keep comments safe for work!) 12) 2:39pm - Canteen Cafe, Leicester Square, London
I had an idea for this shot, and that (plus wanting cheap, cheerful and hot food) made me seek out this cafe. I found it one night before seeing Avenue Q, which plays just round the corner from this cafe. When I went back to see the show again with Simon, Andy and Helen W, I took them to the cafe as well. The walls are plastered with black and white photos. But I had the idea for someone sitting at a table in front of the window, off in their own little world. I’d thought about something similar but using Starbucks, but that didn’t happen. BONUS) 3:18pm - Leicester Square, London
I checked the Prince Charles cinema to see if Quantum of Solace was playing there yet. The Prince Charles is a second run cinema, meaning that they only show a film when it has finished playing in all the other local cinemas - this means the licence to show it is cheaper, and therefore tickets are cheaper too. For non-members, it’s £3.50 for a matinee, £5 evenings and weekends. For members, it’s £1.50/£4.00 (membership is £10 a year). But it’s not on there yet - a walk down to Leicester Square showed that it’s still on at one of the Odeons, along with another Daniel Craig film, giving me the shot here, with two Daniel Craig film posters on the cinema facade. I wonder how many other times there have been with both posters showing the same actor? And that’s your lot for this month! I’m aiming for my best lot of 12 of 12s this year… amazing to think I’ve done 2.5 years of this challenge now! I started in June 2006… wow. But yes - I’m aiming to be more creative, more adventurous and all round better at taking photos this year, so stay tuned!
Heya. Things have slowed down a bit here at Paddytime since the new year but I have been out and about. Its just taken a little while for me to sit down and write about it. Field trips. Gotta love ‘em. The first one I went on was to the Fisher Mansion in Detroit. This video explains it pretty well. I’d say it was pretty interesting to say the least. What once used to be the ultimate bachelor hangout for Detroit’s elite is now the Bhakivedanta Cultural Center. Our tour started out with a 8bit style video history of Hare Krishna and animatronic show, of sorts. From there we went on to see the house and get a nice historical overview from our host. Mr.Fisher definitely spared no expense on this place, some of it nice, some a little over the top. My only complaint was that it smelled faintly of a funeral home. (They do serve free food a few times a week, all vegetarian, not always Indian, but might be a fun stop for Food in the Hood.) Our reason for going to the mansion was that the D.I.A. wasn’t open that day. So we ventured back downtown to see the Monet to Dali exhibit. What a treat. Thanks to the Cleveland Museum of Art for lending these pieces to the D. I forget if I’ve been to that museum, they sure do have a nice collection of modern art though. I particularly enjoyed the sculptures by Rodin. Taking a break from the culture scene, Kristin and I had lunch in Ann Arbor at Cafe Felix, if you ever go there, try getting the 3 cheese croissant sandwich with the tomato basil soup, so good. There’s a snowboarding trip planned for next weekend, hopefully my body recovers in time for another beating. I can’t wait really. It’s been forever since I hit the slopes. Wanna go? love,
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12:40pm - Natural History Museum, London