It’s things like this that make me chuckle. And it’s things like this that make environmental activism so difficult to take seriously. The bald eagle, our national bird and a symbol for the United States, was on the brink of extinction in the United States, being placed on the endangered species list towards the end of the 20th century. In 1995, thanks to a flourishing population, it was re-classified as “threatened”, and in 2007, was de-listed altogether. In Maine, however, where our story today takes place, they are still listed as a state threatened species.

Unfortunately, environmental bureaucrats are having a bit of a problem with the bald eagle. See, the eagles are just not doing what environmentalists want them to do, and are raiding nesting colonies of great cormorants, something we apparently should be concerned about.

Bald eagles, bouncing back after years of decline, are swaggering forth with an appetite for great cormorant chicks that threatens to wipe out that bird population in the United States.

The eagles, perhaps finding less fish to eat, are flying to Maine’s remote rocky islands where they’ve been raiding the only known nesting colonies of great cormorants in the U.S. Snatching waddling chicks from the ground and driving adults from their nests, the eagles are causing the numbers of the glossy black birds to decline from more than 250 pairs to 80 pairs since 1992.

“They’re like thugs. They’re like gang members. They go to these offshore islands where all these seabirds are and the birds are easy picking,” said Brad Allen, a wildlife biologist with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. “These young eagles are harassing the bejesus out of all the birds, and the great cormorants have been taking it on the chin.”

The recovery of the bald eagle population has been well-documented, growing from 400 pairs to more than 10,000 pairs in the lower 48 states since the 1960s. But the revival has changed the natural order of things in Maine and other states, threatening other bird species.

With more eagles around and fewer fish in the waters than in the past, young eagles are turning to other birds to satisfy their hunger. Eagles are opportunistic feeders and will go after the easiest prey they can find, bird experts say.

In Alaska, many eagles have shifted their diet from fish to seabirds. In the Midwest, they’ve been known to eat baby blue herons. And besides Maine’s great cormorants, eagles are also feasting on baby double-breasted cormorants, gulls, eider ducks and even loons.

Nobody’s raising a stink about the eagles’ taste for double-breasted cormorants and gulls because those birds are so numerous and considered nuisances by many.

But the great cormorants are another matter, because their numbers in Maine are so small, said John Drury, of Vinalhaven, who’s been counting seabirds on Maine islands for more than 25 years. Although the birds are widespread from Europe to eastern Canada, they are uncommon in Maine, which represents their southern range in the Northwest Atlantic.

Drury last summer counted only 80 great cormorant nests, the smallest number since 1984, the year after they were first spotted on Maine islands. Without protection, he fears the Maine population could be wiped out.

Governmental agencies and conservation groups have put countless hours and dollars toward protecting other seabird populations such as terns — but little has been done for great cormorants, he said.

“We like to have diversity of species,” Drury said. “If we’re going to spend all that time and energy to protect terns, then cormorants deserve as much attention.”

Ah, diversity of species. Those dastardly bald eagles just aren’t getting the memo, are they? It doesn’t matter that the great cormorant species itself is in apparently little danger of dying out, they’re just getting more rare in the U.S. And nevermind that this is simply how the ecosystem works. Predators go after the easiest prey, and the prey either modifies its lifestyle or the species dies out. Not very heartwarming, I know, but it is reality. Of course, in liberal enviromental bureauweenie land, this means that action must be taken. Species can not be allowed to die out! Action must be taken!!! YEARRGGHHH!

I guess environmentalists just can’t accept the fact that nature is simply not a Disney cartoon, where all of the animals frolick together in nature harmoniously, singing pretty songs. Ecosystems aren’t allowed to weed out the weaker species. Environmentalists apparently feel they should be able to control nature the same way Al Gore & Co. think they should be able to control the weather.

Of course, that attitude isn’t the slightest bit arrogant, is it? Naaah.

Hat Tip: Moonbattery