Michigan Radio & TV Buzzboard

It's long been known bald eagles in the autumn and winter hang out on Belle Isle, other shoreline areas, and in other large wooded areas with nearby water (Kensington Metropark, for example).

But today, new ground was broken!

About three fourths of the way up a tall maple tree within walking distance (say, 80 yards) from my front door, a bald eagle is munching on a rabbit it killed. Been watching the bird intermittently for about 30 minutes.

I've seen coyotes, plenty of hawks, and a fair number of deer in my neighborhood. This is the first time I've seen a bald eagle here. Cool stuff, I think.

There have been Bald Eagles around Cranbrook since forever. That area was estates and farms until the 1960s. Bloomfield Open Hunt Club used to host Fox Hunts as late and 1965 in the woods and pastures in the surrounding area. I can't say I am aware of them in Birmingham, but I know DDT really reduced the population in the 1970s.

With the Rouge River, other water sources, plenty of wooded areas, and plenty of available prey, that makes a lot of sense.

I live about 3 or 4 miles from Cranbrook.

Within the last couple of days, a post appeared my neighborhood's news feed on Nextdoor. A resident of Northville found an injured bald eagle in her yard and wanted to know how to be of help. She was directed to a local rescue who came out to gather up the bird. Apparently the rescue determined that the bird wasn't actually injured, but was inadvertently poisoned. There's a serious rat problem in the Northville area and residents have taken to setting out rat poison in an attempt to eliminate the pests. What they didn't realize is that the rats die, but the carcasses retain the poison. Then other creatures who see rats as a food source are consuming the poisoned carcasses and becoming poisoned themselves.

A follow-up post by the Northville resident this morning seemed to indicate the eagle did not survive. The moral, as always: people who use rat poison suck. There's other ways to eliminate rats that won't harm other innocent creatures.