The mention of feeding eagles in winter reminds me of my childhood. The guy that lived across from my grandparents in Germany used to (still does?) keep pigeons. He had a bit of cash invested and probably kept 75-100 birds. Every year he'd loose a few to the hawks and then gripe an moan about it. He swore the hawks had a taste for the pricey ones. Funny thing is, in really bad winter years he would go purchase a few hog quarters and put the on the shed a couple of times to help those same hawks though till spring. I always admired the man for that. I can still picture those sky rats flying around and around in the valley keeping a sharp eye out for those hawks. I recall one year that a young hawk didn't pull out in time while on a flight after a pigeon which made it into the coop in time. He must have hit the pop hole at Mach something. The dead hawk hit so hard it had to be dismembered to get it back out. Smart pigeon, dumb hawk. The way it goes. Wow, I hadn't though about any of that in a long long time. Thanks.
Swamp