THIS KIND OF BEHAVIOR SHOULD BE ILL-EAGLE

It's a rather strange and disturbing story from Kodiak, Alaska. About 50 bald eagles, symbol of America, got into a dumpster-diving frenzy in a dump truck filled with fish guts outside a fish cannery. When it was all over, about 30 eagles had drowned in the pile because they were pushed and held under by their fellow eagles who were gorging on this rotting pile of scavenger delicacies.

Nature - go figure!

I've been to Kodiak; in fact, I'll be there at the end of this month. When the canneries are working, you can see hundreds of eagles on the short drive from the airport to town. Eagles soaring overhead, dozens of eagles sitting in every tree along the road. For people who have not seen many eagles, it is an awe-inspiring site.

So maybe the eagles should wise up and learn not to disappoint us humans with behavior that is undignified for a national symbol. I mean, magnificently snatching a salmon from just below the surface of the sea with outstretched talons below wide-spread wings is a glorious sight, and one to remember. But - drowning anyone who gets between you and a pile of rotting, steaming fish guts in the bed of a dump truck seems somehow diametrically opposed to the carefully cultivated image of power and glory.

Get with the program, eagles.