Of Time and Place by Sigurd F. Olson

Author:Sigurd F. Olson [Olson, Sigurd F]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-307-82228-4
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2012-07-11T00:00:00+00:00

The eagle and osprey, the greatest of predators, are the most awesome. I saw a bald eagle recently soaring over a river valley not far from my cabin. It looked small way up there, but I knew its enormous wingspread and that it too could spot game from high over the valley—a fish in the river, or possibly carrion close by. I have seen them many times in the Quetico-Superior, found their huge nests of sticks in the tops of old pines, watched their ungainly young being fed; and I have studied the remains of their prey on the whitened ground below. Bald eagles are a gorgeous sight; one never forgets their beauty or the symbol they evoke. There are not too many in this country, except in Alaska, where they are found in uncounted thousands. I think of the McNeil River there at salmon spawning time, when they compete with the brown bear for their leavings. The air over the rapids is alive with their screaming, a high-pitched, ear-penetrating sound different from any other. No other bird dare steal from the eagle except perhaps the osprey. There was an osprey’s nest on the Robinson River in the Quetico, with an eagle’s nest not far away. The birds played a never-ending game of give and take as the smaller, swifter, and more agile raider would harry its bigger cousin until it dropped its prey.

I do not know the condors of California and the Andes well, as they are far more secretive in their habits and cannot tolerate man. It is a constant battle to protect them as they grow rarer on this continent, though in South America their numbers have not been seriously depleted. The condor is a beautiful bird with its enormous wingspan and black dress; as it rides the updrafts from a mountain valley, drifting high over the peaks of its range, it is a glorious vision of wilderness.

The turkey buzzard is another large predator found over much of the southern part of the continent and in Mexico. The buzzards are supreme scavengers; without them the surface of their territory would be unpleasant to look at. Though there are many scavengers on the ground, it is the vultures that seem to play the important role. In Mexico I have seen them gather together high in the sky the instant an animal is about to die. Black, ugly birds with naked red necks and powerful flesh-tearing beaks, they display a savagery and boldness no other birds possess. A year ago I observed some vultures looking for cattle which had died in the drought of that area. They came down in closer and closer circles and then dropped to the spot where an animal lay; immediately their squawking began as the fight for possession of the carcass took place, a frightening thing to witness.

One seldom sees a buzzard here in the North, but one day near the Canadian border on Crooked Lake I saw six turkey buzzards soaring overhead, low enough to be identified.

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