EAGLE FEEDING FRENZY AT QUIDI VIDI POND, ST. JOHN’S, NL

A composite photo of the eagles descending to prey on the gulls in Quidi Vidi Pond.

A juvenile ready for touch down on its prey.

Every winter, Quidi Vidi pond will freeze up for a short time. I have seen people even playing hockey on the west end of the pond in some years but not recently. I guess the ice surface has to be really thick to allow safe skating over it. However, it has created a great platform for eagles in the area to feed on anything they can prey on. This year, I have witnessed more eagle activities around Quidi Vidi or the East end of the city than previous. Here are some pictures I took one morning during a feeding frenzy by at least two juvenile eagles. (All photographs on this page are copyrighted.)

(Warning: Some images may be graphical for some )

In mid-March when the pond was pretty frozen for the most part and ducks and gulls were cornered to a smaller area than usual. One juvenile eagle managed to prey on a victim gull and landed with its prize on the ice patch next to the pond side. Eagles, apparently do not like to share their catch. While one juvenile eagle was enjoying its supper, the other one stood there patiently watching for quite some time until it decided to steal a piece.

They faced off for a short time before the winner took off with the gull and decided to enjoy it somewhere else without any hassle. However, the dead gull was already almost in pieces and a large part fell during its flight and dropped back into the pond. The juvenile still managed to have a tight claw on whatever was left and settled down on a nearby lamp-post to finish off its supper. It is all very interesting to see all this wild life activity right in front of us in the city.

This week, some local wild-life photographers have started using chickens (from supermarket) and threw them over to the ice to bait these eagles. The plan apparently worked and in one afternoon, there were up to 8 or more eagles hovering and gathered on the ice on the pond. This has created some controversy on social media about feeding baits to the juvenile eagles. A local seabird biologist Dr. Bill Montevecch has stated in VOCM news that baiting eagles is not a concern. https://vocm.com/2021/03/26/montevecchi-baiting-eagles/ I was unaware of this baiting when that happened and could not be there capturing that event.

Bruce Mactavish, a local environmental consultant and avid birdwatcher wrote in his regular weekend column on his take on the recent eagle activities at Quidi Vidi. Its a very interesting and informative article, please check it out. ==> Telegram article by Bruce Mactavish

Interestingly, I remembered a few years ago, I was ever so tempted to book an eagle photo-shooting adventure in Nova Scotia where farm chickens were used to bait eagles in their natural habitats for teaching visitors, spectators and photographers about eagle behaviour. https://www.baldeagleinfo.com/eagle/directory/NovaScotia.html

On a different note, there is an eagles nest up on Cuckolds Cove between Quidi Vidi and Signal Hill where a pair of bald eagles have consistently raised a few eaglets every year for the last seven years. The female always lays her eggs around the end of March to early April and eaglets are usually born just before Mother’s Day week! I have been fortunate enough to follow this pair of eagles and the yearly nesting event every year since year one. Here are some pics of the eagles nest and the eaglets from over the years. Here is my interview with CBCNL in 2015 with a chat about the eagles nest in Cuckolds Cove, St. John’s. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfoundland-labrador/cuckhold-s-cove-photographers-capture-eagles-feeding-babies-1.3083746