Cape Breton's Magazine

places where nests have been, past and pres? ent. They check those because sometimes the eagles return. In Victoria County we have 44 nesting sites.) Dave Harris: Of those, I can give you the number of successful nests for last year--ones that produced young. There were quite a few more active, but for one reason or another they weren't success? ful. We had 20 in Inverness County that pro? duced 26 young; 19 in Victoria County that produced 21 young; 11 in Richmond County that produced 17 young; and 18 in Cape Bret? on County that produced 26 young. (Dan Banks points out that the number produced is the number seen during the fly-over June 2, looking for active nests. Sometimes when you fly over, you can't tell if there are birds there or not; and some nests you know are active are in trees you are.unable to climb for banding, or you are simply unable to locate on the ground. "In Inverness Coun? ty we know that they produced 26 young, but we were only able to band 8." And in Victor? ia County they actually banded 25--and even then they don't get to all the birds.) Dave Harris: The year before, they produced way over two young per nest, and last year AnENTIOH Users of Flashing or Revolving Lights on Motor Vehicles it was about one and a half per nest, which is down a little bit. That was mainly due to a colder spring. Right now, this being May, the young would be hatching; and this year I expect them to be down a little as well, because you know what a cool and cold and rainy spring we've had. When it's a late spring, it's harder for the adults to get enough food to really be very healthy, to be able to produce 3 or 4 eggs, which they would in a very early spring. Years like this, they don't have that much excess energy to put into the next generation. They had to put more of their energy into keeping themselves going. So they're not producing as many eggs. And with the rains and cold weather, the chances of an egg not hatching are increased as well. Another thing, around the Mira River, we're having active nests that are later not successful. And the main reason for that, I think, is that the cottagers arrive. And all of a sud? den an area that was calm in February or March and early April--no disturbance--all of a sudden that area is almost like a city and there's people everywhere. It's not that the people are actually going out and bothering the birds. It's just that the peo? ple are closer than the birds ex? pected them to be. So those ar? eas are becoming less and less successful for birds, and the a- dults tend to be moving away from those territories. They're still hunting in that area, but they seem less likely to have a nest in that area. On the other hand, there's always an excep? tion. There's a nest near the coal wash plant that's been suc? cessful three years in a row, and last year had three young. And they're building a railway repair centre quite close to it, and that hasn't seemed to affect it at all. Red, Yellow, Amber or Blue flashing or revolving warning lights are permitted only on special purpose vehicles. We see them daily on Nova Scotia's highways and roads carrying out a wide variety of important services. In a move towards uniformity of such flashing or revolving lights in Canada, the following new Regulations are now in effect in Nova Scotia and the enforcement of the new requirements will commence fvlay 1,1982. Blue Flashing or Revolving Lights are restricted for use by police vehicles only. a) Blue flashing or revolving lights will now be exclusively permitted on police vehicles only, either independently or in combination with Red flashing or revolving lights. Previously, blue lights were allowed on tow trucks, repair or sen/ice vehicles or vehicles en? gaged in the maintenance of highways and snow removal. b) Tow trucks, service and repair vehicles will now be permitted the use of Yellow or Amber flashing or revolving lights. Up until now these vehicles were allowed the use of blue flashing or revolving lights. Before you install any flashing or revolving lights, be sure your vehicle qualifies as Red Flashing or Revolving Lights are restricted purpose vehicle as listed above. Also, check if your for use by police, fire, ambulance and school buses. Yellow or Amber Flashing or Revolving Lights are authroized for use by tow trucks, service and repair vehicles, provincial and municipal vehicles used for road wori< including snow removal and repairs of utilities, other vehicles used for snow removal, farm tractors, farm vehicles, road building or construction equipment, or machinery temporarily moved upon a highway, over dimensional vehicles or escort vehicles accompanying over dimensional loads moving under Special Permit, and school buses in combination with red. The noteworthy points in the above new requirements present flashing or revolving lights conform to the new requirements. If not, switch to the proper color as soon as possible. Remember any violation of the above requirements after May 1,1982, may result in fines and penalties under the Motor Vehicle Act of Nova Scotia. If in doubt, or if you require further details contact; Motor Vehicle Inspection Division 6061 Young Street Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2M4 Phone: 424'31 Nova Scotia Department of Transportation Hon. Ronald C. Giffin, Minister But with a bird as long-lived as an eagle, you don't need to have a lot of success each year to keep a healthy population and to actually keep that population increasing. They live to be quite an old age in the wild; up to about 20 years of age isn't uncommon. So you can see that you don't need to have two or three young a year to increase that population. We've done a food habit study of eagles in Cape Breton. When we're in the nest, while we're waiting for the per'son banding, we collect food remains. We find not that much dependence on gas? pereaux. The main foods--of the fish--are flounder and that sort of fish, and also codfish, a great deal of cod. And any of the other species are dramati? cally below those two. On the other hand, mammals are much, much lower percentage used. Very, very, very low. Often the bones we find have sawblade cuts in them, so you can tell they've (43)