The US National Audubon Society is doing its best to get me to adopt a bald eagle and if I do so to the tune of $60 USD ($82 CAD) I will help this worthy organization and be patriotic on Independence Day. As you might surmise, the appeal is lost on this Canuck, and while the resurgence of this American emblem is a true conservation success story we could argue that bald eagles are more of a Canadian bird. Alaska has a huge population but so does British Columbia and there are more eagles north of the 49th parallel than south of it.
We now see eagles regularly when we're paddling in Southern Ontario and when we visit Newfoundland. I can't recall seeing an eagle growing up in Ontario nor when we lived in NL in the early 80s. We've seen lots in Nova Scotia as well.
We expected to see a fair number when we visited Haida Gwaii, the glorious archipelago off the BC coast, but we still weren't prepared for the numbers. We saw them every day, on beaches, in forests, even in communities.
When we were staying in Masset we took a walk in the Delkatla Wildlife Reserve early in the morning and saw four. We came back for breakfast and there were 15 on the beach literally outside our door. Despite how common they are we loved watching them in flight or hearing them up in the massive trees. The two principle clans of Haida Gwaii are eagle and raven and its not difficult to understand why.
There are lots of eagles in the bible, although bald eagles are unique to North America. We saw some when we visited Israel last year and they are awe-inspiring in flight.
Many a choir and congregation has leaned into the hymn/anthem On Eagles Wings and even though the Isaiah 40:31 reference may be more about growing new pinion flight feathers we picture the majesty of these raptors.
I mentioned that when we stopped for a few minutes of worship on a beach two Sundays ago there was an eagle perched on a stump by the water.
Happy 4th of July to our American neighbours and may your eagles soar.
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