Event puts our national bird in the spotlight
Contributed Article/Courtesy AZGFD
PINETOP – Are you interested in getting up close to one of our great symbols of national pride – the bald eagle? Interested in learning how many bald eagles nest in the Grand Canyon state?
The Arizona Game and Fish Department, along with Liberty Wildlife Rehabilitation, is partnering to conduct its annual educational seminar for the public on bald eagles on Saturday, Jan. 31, at 9 a.m., at the Game and Fish Regional Headquarters in Pinetop.
The program will consist of an indoor presentation on bald eagle life history, identification, behavior patterns, and current status in Arizona and North America, along with a viewing of the award-winning film about Liberty Wildlife’s feather repository program. This will be followed by a live bald eagle presentation and the opportunity for a photograph with “Sonora” the eagle after the presentation.
The festival will conclude with an optional field trip to a local lake to observe eagle behavior first-hand, weather and eagles permitting. Participants are advised to dress for the day’s weather and, if available, bring binoculars or a spotting scope for better observation. Otherwise, experienced birders and biologists will be on hand to show how to use these optics to observe wildlife properly.
“Most of Arizona’s bald eagles are snowbirds,” says AZGFD Nongame Specialist Dan Groebner. “They move down from the north in December, are commonly seen perched at White Mountain lakes and reservoirs in January and February, and begin moving back north by March. However, in recent years, more pairs have decided to stay in the White Mountains to breed and raise young eaglets throughout the summer.”
The event is free. For more information or questions, call the Pinetop office at (928) 367-4281. No RSVP is needed, but seating is limited to 110 people at the Game and Fish Office.
