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Bird of the Month Everyone knows our national bird, the Bald Eagle. Adult Bald Eagles have white heads and tails with dark brown bodies and wings. Immature birds are mostly dark and attain adult plumage in about five years. Bald Eagles' primary food is fish. Bald Eagles typically nest in trees adjacent to large bodies of water, where they build huge nests up to 6 feet in diameter and 4 feet tall. The Bald Eagle became rare in the middle 1900s due to trapping, shooting, poisoning, and pesticide-caused reproductive failures, so in 1978 was listed as an Endangered Species. Since 1980, gentler treatment by humans and the banning of the pesticide DDT have led to a dramatic resurgence. In June 2007, the Bald Eagle was removed from the Endangered Species list. Bald Eagles occur year round in the Pacific Northwest, Florida, and several smaller areas across North America. In summer, Bald Eagles breed across most of Canada and they spend the winter across all of the U.S. and parts of northern Mexico. Locally, they can usually be found in winter at Lake Perris, Big Bear, and several other areas with water, and with luck can be seen as flyovers between these locations, such as the bird seen over Four Seasons on Jan. 4 by Tina Canon. ~ Steve Edelman Birding CLUB On Jan. 4, Tina Canon spotted an adult Bald Eagle flying over Four Seasons, a first record and FS bird #108! Tina reported "at approximately 11:10 am I saw a very large bird of prey… white tail, white head, and dark body were unmistakable… we spent a week in Alaska and saw hundreds of them up there. So he looked familiar. We watched him for about five minutes." Our Feb. 6 Bird Walk started off as our group of masked birders walked Trails A and B, then we drove up to The Courts to check out the retention basin at the east end of Trail D. The highlight was two continuing Wilson's Snipes, which are definitely with us for the winter. The group walk yielded a total of 22 species and 12 additional species were spotted during the day by Jacque Sneddon, Tom Paulek, Gerrie Karczynski, Genie and Bill Cooper, and Helene Leonard for a total of 34 species! The highlight was Jacque Sneddon's sighting of a flyover flock American White Pelicans. Email steve.h.edelman@gmail.com for more information and to receive club communications. ~ Steve Edelman FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | MARCH 2021 39 Say's Phoebe perched on a sprinkler in The Courts retention basin on Jan. 5. Photo by Club member Gerrie Karczynski Adult Bald Eagle. Photo by Wisconsin DNR/Ryan Brady Our club on Trail B during our Feb. 6 bird walk.

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