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I find it amusing the article had to clarify the lower 48 states. In the majority of the United States bald eagles are a rare and majestic sight. In Alaska they
by tomatotomato37 6y ago
I find it amusing the article had to clarify the lower 48 states. In the majority of the United States bald eagles are a rare and majestic sight. In Alaska they are on par with seagulls.
- eevilspock 6y ago"According to scientists from the Service’s Migratory Bird Program, the bald eagle population climbed to an estimated 316,700 individual bald eagles in the lower 48 states." Alaska Department of Fish and Game[1]: "Found only in North America, bald eagles are more abundant in Alaska than anywhere else in the United States. The Alaska population is estimated at 30,000 birds." So you think they bent over backwards, and dishonestly at that, for a 10% change in reported count? Also, "on par with seagulls"? --- [1] http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=baldeagle.main http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=baldeagle.main
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- resist_futility 6y ago“Amusing” “on par with seagulls” meaning seeing 100 in one single area
- dmoy 6y agoAlso note that 30k Alaska number is from 2008
- Arrath 6y agoOh yeah. Very majestic birds, until you see a dozen of 'em squabbling over prime spots on the village garbage scow. Alaska is on an entirely different level.
- cgh 6y agoWe have a couple thousand of them in my town on a seasonal basis every year because they feed on the spawning salmon. They are a bit of a tourist attraction.
- timmg 6y agoHoly crap. Now I want to be a tourist in your town :) Er, which town is it?
- standeven 6y agoNot sure which town the parent was referring to, but we have this in Chilliwack, BC. https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/incredible-sight-thousands-of-bald-eagles-flock-to-b-c-valley-1.4172092 https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/incredible-sight-thousands-o...
- tshaddox 6y ago> In the majority of the United States bald eagles are a rare and majestic sight. I didn't realize this until recently. I grew up in Missouri in the 1990s, where they were relatively common outside of town. You'd still point them out to other people when you saw one, but it wasn't a huge deal. Then I went to the Oakland Zoo a few years ago and they seemed to be a very popular attraction.
- dylan604 6y agoNot to take anything away from seeing a bald eagle, but for a lot of children that live in the city, seeing regular livestock like a cow in person is a rare thing. The same could be said for the night sky. It's all a matter of vantage. You can see lots of things as photographs on websites in great detail, but the first time you see that same thing in real life with your own eyes even if it is in less detail, it is an experience one doesn't forget.
- duxup 6y agoThey're common in a lot of areas now even in the lower 48.
- nightski 6y agoWe see them all over in Minnesota/North Dakota.
- boomboomsubban 6y agoIf I'm reading their survey correctly, those states have relatively few bald eagles. The reason I checked is that I also remember seeing them often in SD, but was never sure if it was a bald eagle or my parents didn't know/were lying to me. I'm still unsure, they exist but I've never seen a flock like that picture posted here.
- xkde 6y agoLast I checked, Minnesota had the largest population in the lower 48. I personally see them all the time.
- boomboomsubban 6y agoThe survey details are very confusing, the terms change from the legend to the table, but I did not notice that the border chosen seperates Minnesota from the Dakotas. The Dakotas have relatively few I meant.
- UI_at_80x24 6y agoI live in the Great Lakes region and I have seen several over my life span.
- jachee 6y agoCan confirm. In Juneau the best place to find them between salmon runs is near the landfill.
- jeh993 6y agoYears ago, we were shooing a documentary in Valdez and needed the quintessential bald eagle shot. After looking everywhere, we asked the locals where to find them. They said the dump. We got our shots.
- mkl 6y agoTangentially, why do Americans call their middle 48 states the "lower 48"? Alaska is north of them and Hawaii is south of them. Does "lower" mean "east" somehow? If lower meant south as on a map, the actual lower 48 would be everything except Alaska and Minnesota.
- senkora 6y agoMy first thought was that the term could’ve predated Hawaii becoming a state, which only happened in 1959. But that seems to be false; the term only started getting popular around 1967: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Lower+48&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3&direct_url=t1%3B%2CLower%2048%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=Lower+48&year_...
- dragonwriter 6y agoIt's an informal term, and your looking at ngrams from books, which tend to favor formal language. i New informal uses that become popular in speech often have a las before they become widely used i'm books.
- vermontdevil 6y agoJust wait till you learn of Down East.
- oasisbob 6y ago"Lower 48" is a term from Alaska, and predates Hawaii's statehood. ie, an updated version would be "Lower 49".
- whyenot 6y ago...but Alaska and Hawaii both became states at almost exactly the same time (January and August 1959). Maybe it makes sense if Alaska considered themselves a state in the years before they officially became one? Otherwise, there would be no need for the "lower" part.