Welcome to another Sunday Edition of Wildknife Photo.
Eagles are the first birds to return to Yellowknife in the spring. I use the term spring loosely here because it’s still -20ºC and everything is frozen. Eagles are usually first sighted at the landfill at the end of March or beginning of April. They are a sure sign warmer temperatures are on the way…in a few weeks.
Fun Facts: Bald eagles get their name from the Old English “balde,” meaning white. It takes an eagle 5 years to get its signature white head. Young bald eagles are often confused with Golden Eagles.
The change is gradual: their beak turns from black to yellow; eyes from brown to pale yellow; body feathers evolve from mottled to dark brown; and their head and tail feathers from mottled to solid white.
Bald eagle nests are often 5 to 6 feet in diameter. In the NWT, some eagles nest on small rocky islands in Great Slave Lake where there are no trees – and no predators.
Bald eagles usually stick around until late October before heading south and west to open water where they will stay until spring.
That’s it for this week!