My kids were all wide-eyes and smiles as they sat in the backseat of our car, gazing out the windows. Above us flew a massive black bird with a bright, white head – a bald eagle.
Driving along Route 9 in western Massachusetts, I’d noticed the huge bird flying low right above the roadway. I pulled over so the kids could watch it – their first time seeing a bald eagle uncaged. For several minutes we watched as it circled overhead, in awe that it flew so low, giving us such a great view. We couldn’t believe our luck.
Then everything changed. As if it had a death wish, the eagle dove down into the middle of traffic. Its wings spread wide, the giant bird dropped between two cars traveling in opposite directions. It disappeared from view behind one of the cars, and as the startled drivers swerved and slammed their breaks, the wide eyes and smiles in our car changed to screams of “Oh my God!” and “No!”
Somehow, after a brief moment that seemed like an eternity, the eagle rose above the stopped vehicles and flew off with the large, limp carcass of roadkill clutched in its talons. It was a majestic sight, an inspiring moment, and I said out loud, “What a stupid bird.”
Apparently, stupidity – or a complete lack of respect for oncoming traffic – is a common problem among the region’s bald eagle population. So much so that, according to the Bangor Daily News, the state of Maine is beginning to place ‘Bald Eagle Crossing’ signs along roadways.
Of 45 fatal eagle strikes reported in Maine since 1988, 36 occurred within the last 7 years. Bald and golden eagles were removed from the Endangered Species List in 2007 because their populations had sufficiently recovered.
We may need more of these signs.
(To read more about Maine’s Bald Eagle Crossing signs, click here.)