Dutch Harbor's bald eagles dive-bombing people Animal Planet

[Donna]

This summer, I spent a month on the Bering Sea on an oceanographic research vessel, blogging for Nature. After we docked, I spent a couple days in the port of Dutch Harbor on Unalaska Island. If you watch the Discovery Channel show Deadliest Catch the name Dutch Harbor will ring a bell – it serves as a home base for fishermen in the show during crabbing season. It’s the number one commercial fishing port in the U.S., and though the town is very small, there are always scientists and fishermen from all over the world during summer. And there are hundreds of bald eagles. This is becoming a wee bit of a problem. Read on.

The beautiful volcanic island of Unalaska lies along the Aleutian Island chain, which stretches westward from Alaska. When I returned to the port of Dutch Harbor in mid-July the hills were verdant and covered in wildflowers. It’s foggy much of the time, and the airport has a single runway, when planes take off or land, they have to close the one road that goes through the middle of town because the runway goes right up to its edge. The town itself has only two stores – the Alaska Ship Supply and Safeway, and there is one hotel – the Grand Aleutian. It sits right across from the rocky shoreline, which is fun to explore. I spotted a sea lion in the distance, and found some sea anemones and seashells in the tidepools. There's also the Unisea which Deadliest Catch has made famous. A sign on the door says “Please give your knives to the bartender. It will be returned when you leave.�

But that's got nothing on the talons and beaks of a bald eagle.  America's national bird is truly massive, majestic and regal. But you don’t want one of them chasing you or dive-bombing your head. Right about the time I visited, the newspapers reported a couple of bald eagle attacks on people. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologists came into see if anything could be done to prevent the attacks, since the eagles are protected species and people can't shoot or disturb them. They posted warning signs at a few of the spots where people visit regularly which have nearby nests with eagles known to fly at people– including the town post office and the library.

[MAK]

Yikes! Get out the hard hats!!!