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The bald eagle is the only predator in North America that will bully a grizzly bear and steal his fish from him. The bald eagle has 1500 lbs per square inch of pressure in each of his talons; this is equivalent to a 6 ft alligator’s bite. Bald eagles mate for life. They generally use the same nests year after year (sometimes for as many as 35 years). These nests get really large. Some have measured in at 10ft across, 20 ft deep and weighing 2000 lbs. Red shoulder hawks will line their nests with conifer sprigs. These sprigs release natural chemicals that act as pesticides, keeping ants and bugs off their young. The great horned owl is one of North America’s leading predators of skunks. They have no sense of smell and so this works out just fine! Vultures are some of the only birds that have a sense of smell. This is great, because they locate their carrion (dead stuff) using their sense of smell. They can smell a dead animal from 2 miles high in the sky. Owls can turn their heads 270 degrees around. That is 3/4 of a turn around. They have extra cervical vertebrae that enable them to do this. They have 14, whereas we humans (and giraffes!) only have 7. Owls eyes are not round. They are shaped like light bulbs or mushrooms. The small part is the part we see, and they balloon out inside their heads. This enables them to see in very low light situations, hunting with 100% accuracy using only the light from a star or two to see by. Birds of prey (or raptors) are environmental indicator species. If there is a problem with the health of an ecosystem, it shows up in these birds first. (food sources, soil and water quality, environmental contaminants, etc)
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