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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Birdman Paul: Portland Pair Also Portland Parents


I met Birdman Paul at Saturday night's Whitetail Deer Classic. He's no hunter, but sure is a sportsman. A federal bird bander, he's the person who told me about the pair of bald eagles who've nested the past five years at Portland's Power Plant. A few weeks ago, the happy couple posed for Paul, and the picture he snapped is posted here.

One of you, obviously an ornithologist, warned that their winter bungalow should be kept secret. That's usually true. But as Paul explained to me Saturday night, these raptors have long been used to us. They've had thousands of visitors, and once, the state police had to be called in for crowd control. They seem to like the attention.

Far from being shy, this couple has no trouble gettin' jiggy wit it. From their nest at the Portland Power Plant, they've raised 11 eagles to fledge over the last five years. No Viagra needed, either.

Above, you'll see four youngsters from last year's nest - little Ron, Jerry, John and Wayne. There were originally five, but little Charles fell out of the nest and was gobbled up by a fox before little Ron could save him. These kids look like crows, but according to the Birdman, bald eagles do not develop their signature white head and tail until they are five years old.

Allentown may have its popular peregrines, but the soaring bald eagles live in the slate belt, probably to be close to big Ron Angle.

3 comments:

Chris Casey said...

I appreciate what Paul is doing. We have a pair of hawks living behind our house, they have a huge nest, and they eradicated most of the squirrel/rodent population of the nearby Swamp. I did not know that Eagles looked a lot like Crows their first few years. we have some huge Crows in there, I wonder if they were actually an Eagle or two.

Anonymous said...

We have bald eagles in Allentown, too.... no need to snark.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Gee, I knew A-town had a penguin and quite a few vultures, but never once saw a bald eagle.

Now that's a snark.