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Show j Raptors Abound In Color Country The American bald eagle is only T' one of several raptors or "birds of t prey" to be found in Bryce Canyon country. Raptors of the area in- elude, besides the bald eagle, the golden eagle, hawks, falcons and owls. The best known and most popu- I lar of the raptors, the bald eagle, w isn't really bald at all. His head is covered with white feathers. The word comes from the Old English ?v word "balde" which means white. I "Eagle-eye" is an apt description i for someone with good eyesight, f Eagle-eye refers to the eagle's ex- I traordinarily keen eyesight which I enables some of them to spot a fish j from more than a mile away. Owls, j falcons and hawks share the eagle's exceptional eyesight I Bald eagles, who mate for life, t tend to use the same nest each year, f piling new materials on top of old, I year after year. One of the largest J nests ever found weighed more than a ton and measured 20 feet deep and ; 9 12 feet across. A new nest is ?' small by comparison about three ) feet deep and five feet across. A mature American bald eagle j weighs between eight and twelve f pounds. Most female bald eagles weight a little more than their mates. The huge birds may have wingspan of six to seven feet ; Eagles, as well as other raptors, i arc great fishermen, able to nab a live fish right out of the water by swooping down and grasping it ' with sharp talons. I Eagles will also eat ducks, geese, r turtles, rabbits, rats and squirrels, f Other raptors feed mainly on rabbits , and small rodents. ' Two-thirds of the 400 species of the birds of prey the hawks, eagles, ea-gles, falcons and vultures seek their prey between sunrise and sunset. sun-set. The other third, the owls, are mainly night hunters. Both the bald eagle and the golden eagle may be spotted in Bryce Canyon country and sometimes some-times are difficult to tell apart. Where the white feathers on the mature bald eagle distinguished him from the golden eagle, younger birds are quite similar in appearance. appear-ance. A mature bird is usually about four years old. Bald eagles found in the area will be seen only in winter when they arrive from Canada. Golden eagles are also migratory, with only a few nesting in the area. Marsh hawks and rough-legged hawks are also commonly seen in Garfield County. Male hawks vary from 10 to 22 inches in length, with the slightly larger females ranging from 12 to 26 inches. Females Fe-males are not only larger but are also stronger and usually bolder than the males. Unlike many birds, the male and female are colored almost al-most alike in most cases. The hawk's usually light-colored eyes give him a fierce and belligerent belliger-ent look. His wings are more rounded than the falcon's and his neck is thickly feathered. Among the owls seen in the area are barn owls, great horned owls and saw-wheat owls. Easily recognizable recog-nizable with its broad head and giant gi-ant eyes, the owl hunts mostlv mammals. The larger owls eat squirrels, the smaller ones, mice, rats and shrews. Owls have binocular vision and, like man, can watch an object with both eyes at the same time. Their huge eyes, however, don't move in their sockets and they must turn their heads to follow moving objects. ob-jects. Their dull coloring allows them to blend into their background. Fairly fast, they can swoop down upon their unsuspecting target almost al-most soundlessly. Their fluffy feathers muffle the swishing sound that most birds make in flight. Falcons are often mistaken for hawks, but their wings are long and pointed and their tails are fairly long compared to the hawk. They also have a different kind of flight, with rapid wing strokes and, unlike the hawk, the do not soar. Despite its name, the Sparrow hawk is actually a falcon, the smallest found in America, and may be seen in Garfield County. The falcon has a sharply hooded beak and powerful feet with sharp talons and will often attack prey as large as himself or larger. Peregrine falcons have been spotted near Lake Powell in Bryce Canyon country. i , """-V- "'. ; I '-V'.'V I |