The good news is that there have been no cases of avian influenza outside of the 3 kilometre exclusion zone.  However, the three week quarantine period remains in effect.

There is also concern at the large number of ducks and geese in the area as these birds are carriers of the disease even though they do not contract it themselves.

To illustrate how swiftly the disease moves a am told that the virus got in to a barn of 12,000 turkeys.  Three days later there were only 100 left alive, and these had to be euthanized.  No wonder the farmers are so concerned.

As a result I regret to advise you that there will be no further feeding of the eagles this winter.  It would not have commenced before the end of the quarantine period in any event and that would take us into the first week of March.  By mid March the eagles start returning to their nesting grounds, so the feeding window would have been small.

The eagles have left the feeding site and without the attraction of easy food they may move on sooner than they otherwise would.

Thank you for your support and donations.  I hope we can do this again in December.  In the meantime, stay well!

I have just been advised that a further outbreak of avian influenza is reported in the Gaspereau Valley.  At present birds within a three kilometre radius are likely to be destroyed.   If this contains the disease we may be able to resume feedings.  If it does not the next exclusion zone is a ten kilometre radius. 

Things will probably unfold more slowly than we would like, but we will not resume until the situation has been resolved.

I will continue to visit the feeding site at normal feeding times to advise visitors of the circumstances.  If you are planning to visit and would like an update, feel free to call me on 902 582 1708.   

As reported in the news there has been a confirmed case of avian influenza in the Halifax area.  It is unclear at this time what the long term effects will be but for the time being we are suspending feeding the eagles to avoid having to access farms. 

​ I will update information as it becomes available.

An unexpected occurance has forced us to suspend eagle feeding for the time being.  Unfortunately I am not at liberty to elaborate at the present time but expect to have more information later this week.  I deeply regret this necessity and apologize for the inconvenience caused to those who have travelled to attend the feedings.

9:00 am feeding

It was -14, sunny with a few clouds.  Some of the Quebec visitors have returned home via the Gaspe  peninsula but four remain.  I distributed two buckets of medium and large chicken with the help of two of them.

Two eagles came down quite quickly but the numbers took a while to build.  In the end there were forty or so eagles on the ground and in the trees.  Not much of a flying display, no doubt influenced by the size of the chickens.

11:00 am  feeding

The temperature had risen to minus 8 but the wind had picked up so felt just as cold.  The sun was still shining.  I distributed one bucket of medium and small chicken and one bucket of large.  After 10 minutes there was still no action so I went off on a couple of errands.  I returned forty minutes later and the show was already over.  Thirty eagles were reported on the ground at one time with at least 10 more in the trees.

A follow up on yesterday.  Due to the stormy weather there was only a 9 o'clock feeding.  My Quebecois friend reports only four eagles on the ground at any one time - perhaps half a dozen in total.  They didn't come down until 10:30.

9:00 and 11:00 am feedings

Again, not many eagles around.  I was fortunate to have my farming neighbour snow blow my driveway or I couldn't have made it.  The same chap cleared the way into the field and the viewing strip.  Many thanks, Dale.

While the chicken from the nine o'clock feeding had been taken before I arrived back at 11:00 I did not hang around to see the numbers myself.  I stayed briefly for the  eleven o'clock feeding.  I counted a half dozen eagles in the trees and only one on the ground before the cold wind got the better of me.

​

Sorry to have missed a couple of blog days.

Because of the storm there was only one feeding today at 9:00 am.  There were some hardy souls from Quebec on site and a few eagles in the trees.  They had not come down after half an hour.

The previous two days saw good shows and 40 - 50 eagles for the 11:00 am feeding, slightly less for the 9:00 am.

Tomorrow's feedings are driveway (can I dig my way out?) and weather dependent. 

9:00 am feeding

It was cold at -9 but no wind and a bit of sun when I arrived at site.  I distributed one bucket of medium size chickens.  There were 30 - 35 eagles and they came down almost immediately and put on a good show for the 35 spectators.

11:00 am feeding

The temperature had risen to -3 and the crowd had grown to over 60 swelled by a delegation from the NSCC environmental program at Kingstec.  The recent pattern of prompt response from the eagles continued.  Eagle numbers were 40 - 45.  I distributed 2 buckets of medium to large chickens.  The ground display was one of the best of the season. 

9:00 am feeding

Weather was overcast with a light snow falling and a temperature of -6.  A couple of inches of powder fell overnight.  No wind, so temperature was comfortable.

I distributed one bucket of medium to large chickens.  Waiting time for the fifteen spectators was under five minutes.  As was the case yesterday it was mostly ground action, albeit pretty good.  I counted about 35 eagles.

11:00 am feeding

The number of eagles didn't swell as much as yesterday as the were no more than 40 eagles present.  The temperature had risen to +1 so that may have influenced numbers.  It remained overcast so no patches of blue and sun today.

I didn't have any chicks today so I distributed 1 bucket of small chickens and 1 bucket of medium to large.  Again, waiting time was under 5 minutes.  A decent aerial show and a very good ground show followed.  The crows and ravens were very active as well.  There were 15 - 20 spectators.

I have noticed that so far this year there haven't been as many juveniles.  I counted 5 today which means the adults are outnumbering the juveniles by 6 or 7 to  1.  I haven't recorded numbers for previous years but it feels like a low juvenile count this year.

9:00 am feeding

It was -6 and overcast as I arrived at site.  There had been a overnight powder snowfall amounting to about 4" (10 cm).  I distributed 1 bucket of medium large chickens.

The action started in about 5 minutes, some aerial but mostly on the ground.  There were 30 - 35 eagles and 8 spectators.

11:00 am feeding

The temperature had risen to -2 and some sun appeared through a partly cloudy sky.  Dylan joined me in distributing a bucket of medium and a mixed bucket of chicks and small birds.  Again the action started within 5 minutes.  Eagle numbers had grown to over 50 and there were 15 spectators.  

The aerial display was good with a number of chickens taken on the wing.  Following up from earlier speculation about the success rates of this manoeuvre, I observed better success rates today.  The powder snow is more like taking fish from the water, which seems to confirm my earlier view.  Also, some of the chickens being taken were larger.

There was also an excellent display on the ground.  We have had a good string of excellent shows seemingly coinciding with the arrival of the migrant birds to swell numbers and increase demand.