Our national bird is found more often throughout Northwest regions of North America. Arizona bald eagles tend to build nests within a mile of creeks, rivers or lakes. They like high places in trees like cottonwoods, willows, pines, junipers and sometimes in the high snags of trees inhabited formerly by other eagles’ nests. These birds build the largest nests of any of the North American birds -- one was recorded to be 13 feet deep, 8 feet across and weighed approximately 2.7 tons. This record is likely because they keep adding to the nest each year. Similar to us humans and our homes? 
 They love most fish so tend to hang out around large bodies of waters. However, they also prey on rabbits, raccoons and other birds. They’ve also captured rafters, road kill carcasses (or other carcasses from which they get toxicity from the bullets that killed them), ducks and other small waterfowl.
 During winter season, bald eagles migrate from the north (even Canada) and many are seen at lakes and rivers along the Mogollon Rim. It’s estimated that there are about 300 bald eagles that come to Arizona. I guess you can call them “snow birds” too! 
 Pete Alshire, former Roundup editor, mentions in an article, “The eagle line dates back at least a million years. Their fierce yellow eyes can stare down a mafia…. and have powerful opposable talons which have been reported…to be able to hang onto a slippery fish while flying with their prey which may weigh up to 15 pounds…” 
 

At Green Valley Lake, eagles like the trout stocking seasons as it makes for easy fishing. These Green Valley visitors are our seasonal residents, showing up in early fall and leaving in May. 
 Our own Payson residents often have a passion about tracking and watching our bald eagles. For photographer DJ Craig Miller, it is a long-time passion. He related seeing his first eagle five years ago, a young one-year-old bird and thinks he was the son of a long-time returning eagle visitor. He noted that eagles have different styles of fishing and tend to perch in the same places. 
 There is now a younger female eagle that Craig has named “Goldie.” She is now about three, too young to have babies. Bald eagles usually mature and are sexually active about age five. They may have three babies. Eaglet kids are very competitive when mother is feeding them. 
 Craig Miller continues, “But the two eagles here are still in the ‘young puppy love stage’ behavior and they sit within two or three feet of each other.” He reports that “Goldie” had two bands and Game and Fish recorded she was hatched in 2016 in a nest along Salt River near Goldfield Recreation area. The male eagle (called Bernie by DJ Craig) had suffered from toxicity in Montana and, when he returned in September, he noticed the eagle was fishing and perching like Bernie used to do but there was a band on his right ankle. 
 Craig says he then spent many hours and days trying to photograph the entire numbering on the bird and, after he was successful, he sent it to Game and Fish and learned that this banded eagle came from a lake about two hours east of Bozman. A couple found him on his death bed. When the bird rescuer arrived, he mentioned that, if it was any other raptor, he would have put him down but an eagle was a different story. They put lots of charcoal down his throat to make him throw up and it took six weeks to rehab him. They were unclear if he had been migrating from far north, maybe as far as Canada, but the eagle Craig calls “Bernie” was saved.
 I was curious as to how the eaglet is banded. “How do they band such a powerful bird?” I asked.
 DJ Craig was pleased to tell me about his first-hand encounter with Game and Fish when they were banding a six-week-old eaglet. “A Game and Fish climber goes up the tall tree or to their perch and the adult eagles begin squawking loudly while circling around the tree making a ruckus. (When banding is over, it may take them an hour or more before they come back into the nest.) When the climber gets to the top, he puts a hood over the eaglet’s face. As soon as he does that, the eaglet falls asleep. It is a phenomenon that is not clearly understood but it works every time. Then the eaglet is put in a duffle bag which is lowered to the ground. It is then banded, talons and beak lengths are measured, and the eaglet is weighed.” 
 Local “Bird Man Craig” added, “In my observations of Bernie, he is always comfortable when people come around at Green Valley Lake. He will sit up in the large willow tree and watch passersby below without being bothered and appears to be curious about us humans. However, his fledgling bride-to-be, Goldie, is much shyer. Bernie tends to sit close to her; perhaps for reassurance? One other thing about Bernie, he is a real clod when it comes to courting. He could be kind but when he sees a fish, he swoops down quickly and easily snaps up his fish but he never shares his fish with Goldie. He just grabs it and flies away to eat it by himself. And Goldie is very tentative in fishing and fishes more in the middle of the lake further away from people walking and park bench gawkers.”
 So, here is my invitation to you. Come check out the romantic eagle duo in our own backyard, Green Valley Lake, only one mile off our main Highway 87 but like a world unto its own. We can’t guarantee you a birds’ eye view but likely you will see the birds themselves. 
 I wondered how our forefathers came to choose the bald eagle instead of the competing turkey? I learned that it was chosen -- as a symbol of our country on June 20, 1782 -- because it embodied qualities of great strength, a fierce beauty, long life span, majestic looks and appeared proud and independent and it was thought then to only exist on this continent. I would have added, that they are also faithful mates and, from their lofty sky vision, they have a bigger picture of their world. I found out that the word “bald” actually comes from the old English word “piebald” meaning white headed and not bald as we use it now. 
 Personally, I prefer to let my feelings of admiration, awe, exhilaration and joyful gratitude flood over me as the eagle swoops down powerfully over my head for an unsuspecting fish. I hope you too will have such a rewarding experience at Green Valley Park Lake. The eagles HAVE landed!