XPost: bc.politics, vic.general, van.general   
   From: callida@cda.net   
      
   February 21, 2011 - By CBC News   
      
   Bald eagles starving on West Coast   
      
      
   Bald eagles near Courtenay, B.C., are starving after a poor chum salmon run   
   last season, bird   
   watchers say.   
   Bird watchers in Courtenay, B.C., say bald eagles in the area are starving to   
   death after a   
   poor chum salmon run last season has left them working even harder to find   
   food.   
      
   Warren Warttig, the president of the Mountainaire Avian Rescue Society, says   
   the group is now   
   nursing five eagles back to health.   
      
   "We had one that was so emaciated, we think it fell out of the sky and hurt   
   its chest and had   
   to be nursed back. And others, quite often people are reporting they're   
   leaning up against a   
   tree and not looking very good," he said.   
   He added that the dearth of chum salmon affected not just the east coast of   
   Vancouver Island,   
   but also eagles in Brackendale, near Squamish.   
      
   Warttig says the herring runs will begin any day now, which should end the   
   crisis for the   
   hungry birds.   
      
   Crucial food source   
      
   Chum salmon head upriver to spawn and then die off after spawning all along   
   the B.C. coast. The   
   run begins in October and continues until the end of November, Warttig said.In   
   some places, the   
   salmon run until early December.   
   They are a crucial food source that help eagles get through a fasting period   
   from December to   
   February because they spawn later than other salmon and have more fat than   
   other species,   
   Warttig added.   
      
   He thinks the poor chum salmon run will probably affect local bears, which use   
   them to fatten   
   up before hibernation.   
      
   "They'll probably be coming out in pretty rough shape from hibernation this   
   spring."   
      
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