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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2014
Winter eagles return Green Valley Park migrants once again delight onlookers BY
PETE ALESHIRE
ROUNDUP EDITOR
Payson’s very own bald eagles have returned to Green Valley Lake, part of a continent spanning migratory lifestyle that every year delights Rim Country residents. The wide-ranging eagles that flock to Arizona every winter greatly outnumber the much smaller and distinct population of year-round breeding pairs. An estimated 300 eagles flap through Arizona every winter on their wanderings, which may start in Alaska and end in Mexico or points south, according to surveys conducted by the Arizona Department of Game and Fish. Many of the Arizona migrants come from various areas in Canada, mostly along great rivers where they can feast on the salmon and other fish making their own migrations. Most of those migratory eagles fledge in the spring and summer in the far north, then head south for warmer climates in the winter. A Game and Fish survey estimated that last year some 250 bald eagles hung out in Arizona during the winter, down from a long-term average of about 295. Roosevelt Lake remains the epicenter of activity for these migratory eagles, along with Nankoweap Creek in the depths of the Grand Canyon. They live on bass, crappie and catfish plucked from Roosevelt. But they’re drawn to Nankoweap by the spawning of thousands of trout, which provide easy pickings — just like the runs of salmon in Canada and Alaska. Another group of bald eagles builds nests and raises their young in the state. Their fledglings set off on their own migrations and wander about for four or five years before attaining sexual maturity. A young eagle may migrate 1,000 miles in his first year, living on carrion mostly until he perfects his fish-hunting technique. At about five years old if they survive a dangerous adolescence, they find a mate and build a nest of their own — usually not far from where they were born. Their parents, which mate for life, may hang around through the winter and may wander off. They generally occupy a massive nest in a big tree or cliff face at the end of the winter and fledge chicks in the late spring. Last year, the desert-nesting bald eagles had established 68 nests, although they occupied only 54. They produced 71 young in 35 successful breeding attempts. Only
58 of those chicks lived long enough to take flight. Back in 2004, the Arizona eagles managed to fledge 42 young. Most of the desert-nesting eagles built massive nests of sticks along the shores of the Salt and Verde Rivers, with Roosevelt and Tonto Creek feeding into a center of activity. However, eagles also nested on the East Verde River and at Woods Canyon Lake, where their not-so-friendly competition with a host of resident osprey delights visitors in the spring and summer. Biologists hope that the eagles will continue to expand, perhaps establishing nesting territories all along the East Verde and Fossil Creek as well as other Rim Country lakes. The Game and Fish Department posts nest watchers to protect many of the most accessible nests from disturbance. At Woods Canyon Lake and elsewhere, they’ve found that discarded fishing line poses a grave hazard to the eagles, since the mothers often inadvertently bring the tangles back to the nest where they can prove fatal to chicks. That means discarded fishing line can pose a hazard to the Green Valley eagles as well. The status of the desert-nesting eagles remains controversial. The disastrous eggshell thinning effects of the pesticide DDT at one time reduced the number of breeding pairs of bald eagles to about 400 nationally. The ban on DDT in the U.S. and the recovery of the national bird represents one of the great wildlife conservation triumphs, capped by the removal of bald eagles from the endangered list in 2007. However the Centers for Biological Diversity and the Maricopa Audubon Society went to court repeatedly to try to force the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to leave endangered species protection in place for the desert-nesting bald eagles. The endangered species act provides for continued protection of a unique sub-population that fills a significant gap in the breeding territory of a species. The battle has repeatedly gone back and forth in court, but at present the desert-nesting eagles remain off the list and their population continues to grow slowly. But for now, the return of the far-ranging eagles has provided yet another thrill for a day spent in Green Valley Park. The resident eagles hang out on various barren treetops round the shore of the lake and swoop down to grab the stocked trout, which also lures anglers to the lake. But the fishermen sporting all their expensive gear had best not study the Green Valley Lake eagles too closely — it’ll only make them feel inadequate. Human anglers can easily make 100 casts in an hour without catching a fish. But nestwatchers at Woods Canyon Lake now and then studied the hunting eagles to record their fishing success rate. At least at Woods Canyon when the note-takers had their pencils out, the eagles caught a fish on every dive.
Photos by DJ Craig
An estimated 300 eagles flap through Arizona every winter, and some of them hang out in Green Valley Park and at Woods Canyon Lake.
A VETERAN REMEMBERS some of history’s most furious battles
Larry Moore stood at his ing. The blast tore a gaping post on the Number 3 deck RIM COUNTRY hole in the bow, through gun when the USS Shaw’s which the ocean began pourluck ran out once again. ing. The 1,450-ton, 341-footMoore was at his battle long Mahan-class destroyer station, manning the telewas zig-zagging through the scopic sighting scope on the deep-blue waters of the Pacific near Cape five-inch gun, which could fire 30, 50-pound Gloucester off the shores of New Britain in shells a minute. 1943, supporting the efforts of the United “I was what they call a pointer,” recalls States 1st Marine Division to seize yet anoth- Moore, a longtime Payson resident whose er stepping stone island on the way to the military career bore witness to history invasion of Japan. including from epic sea battles in the Pacific The Japanese dive bombers and torpedo and the triumph of the Berlin Airlift. planes buzzed around the supporting fleet, “I was the one looking through the teledesperately seeking to break up the vital scopic sights. One guy moved the gun side to effort to supply the troops ashore. The side — the guy who moved it up and down Japanese had been fighting a fanatical, was a pointer. Had to work together to keep often-suicidal, island-by-island effort to pre- the crosshairs on the target. When we were vent the United States from securing an in combat — when we got our crosshair — island airbase close enough to the Japanese I’d squeeze the trigger. We’d practice every mainland to bring the war home to the day. It was an unspoken communication. The Japanese people. gun captain would tell you what the target On that fateful day, a dive bomber finally was and the two of you just worked in unifound the Shaw’s range, despite the destroy- son.” er’s skillful evasive maneuvers. The 204 offiThe Shaw somehow survived the terrible cers and crew felt the impact of the 500- damage off Cape Gloucester, although it took pound bomb, which somehow struck the deck two days of relentless struggle to make it and bounced off into the water before explod- back into a safe port. Two of the fearsome
Pete Aleshire/Roundup
Larry Moore served the United States of America in the Navy and the Air Force, and fought in some of our country’s greatest battles.
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“Val” dive bombers struck home, wounding 33 sailors and killing three others. “We made it back into a destroy tender — the bobbin,” said Moore. “We still had wooden decks — that was a lot of Navy ships in the ’20s and ’30s — we made it into her and they put some more pumps on. Our decks were almost in the water because we were so low in the water — they pumped the water out and they were able to put a patch where the hole was. So we went back to Hunters Point to get the holes repaired.” The little destroyer ultimately participated in some of the most ferocious naval engagements in history, including Guadalcanal, Saipan, Guam, the Battle of Leyte Gulf and the recapture of Manila. The ship repeatedly suffered damage from enemy fire and ran aground in deadly conditions twice. She rescued the crews of other sinking ships under fire and wound up with 11 battle stars, awarded for major engagements. Moore missed some of the early battles, like Guadalcanal in 1942, but then stayed with the Shaw to the end. But when Moore finally got into action in 1943, he didn’t realize he’d landed on a See Veteran remembers, page 6B
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