Birds With Benefits: How Eagles Are Helping Dairy Farmers in Western Washington
Bald eagles and other raptors clean up fields for free and scare off pest birds like starlings. “You support the wildlife, the wildlife supports you,” one farmer says.
July 24, 2023 | Source: Civil Eats | by Rebecca Dzombak
If given the opportunity, a group of bald eagles can clean up a cow carcass in a day. While raptors and farmers in many parts of the world have fraught relationships, many dairy farmers in western Washington state welcome the eagles for the services they provide, according to a new study.
Karen Steensma is a dairy farmer and biologist in Whatcom County, just a few miles south of the border between the United States and Canada. Her family’s dairy, with about 200 milking cows, is one of 78 farms that lie in front of the Cascades, a swath of undulating green fields punctuated by barns, farm stands, and cheese shops.
The area is also teeming with eagles, especially during the winter, when they swarm the fields to snack on salmon that migrate up the Nooksak River and its tributaries to spawn. Steensma’s farm, which has been running since the 1980s, is no exception.