Being the national bird, bald eagles are held in high regard, yet as beautiful as they are, they sometimes aren’t as majestic as many perceive them to be. Reddit user WisePiccolo2842 shared a photo of a local landfill in Alaska, where a large group of the symbolic bird of prey gathered to scavenge. While OP didn’t add any more context, little else needed to be said, as the picture showed the eagles for what Redditors called them out to be: “glorified seagulls.”
“When I went to Alaska they referred to them as Alaskan Pigeons,” remarked a commenter. “Bald eagles are, for the most part, lazy scavengers that contribute little to the ecosystem,” accused another. While calling the national bird “lazy” sounds disrespectful to the national symbol, Redditors aren’t wrong to label the birds as such.
People Have Accused Bald Eagles of Being ‘Lazy Trash Birds’
The Alaska Department of Fish and Game also officially categorizes bald eagles as scavengers that often travel long distances, sometimes in large numbers, when they find an abundant food source. Locals have reportedly called them “trash birds” and “dump buzzards,” according to a report from KTOO last year, since so many were seen around landfills in Juneau. Even the tourism director for the Bald Eagle Preserve in Haines called bald eagles “lazy.”
That being said, these negative-sounding characteristics of the country’s bird don’t make it any less majestic in appearance. Still, it’s an ironic juxtaposition to see one at a dump. “So, the bald eagle is the perfect bird for the US then,” a Redditor wrote in response to others pointing out its scavenging habits.
“If that’s not a metaphor for America, I don’t know what is,” remarked another. “This is a very shockingly well-represented depiction of how America is currently right now,” dramatically exclaimed a third. Some even said the image made them feel sad, given how many have felt about the state of the country lately.
In the end, though, the picture is still just a group of nature’s scavengers enjoying an easy meal at a human-made landfill. What people interpret from it is telling, but it’s just hungry birds behaving on instinct nonetheless.
