The eagle landed on a Notre Dame fan

[Dr. Who]

I was deployed up to Adak, AK in the late '70s, and they had many bald eagles there. It was a little disenchanting, if that's the right word, to see them hanging around the dumpsters and digging in the garbage for food.

They are scavengers - in fact, they belong to the same family of birds as vultures. Finding the carcass of some animal is a real bonus for an eagle. However, adaptation is the secret to the success of any species. We humans do tend to mess up their hunting grounds, but they have learned that we are a really wasteful species and throw away a lot of edible food. Many predators have adapted to using our garbage dumps as a supermarket. While it may appear unseemly for such a magnificent bird to root through garbage, at least it helps them to survive in an increasingly inhospitable world. They also probably find some tasty rodents in those dumpsters.

[Dr. Who]

Right, I think they're like bears. Black bears, opportunists basically.

When I was in PA we used to chase them out of dumpsters with out ATV's. Can't tell you how many times I've had them in my rubbish cans.

They are opportunists. They will even steal food from their fellow eagles. I wouldn't be surprised if they hang around when bears are feasting on salmon during spawning season.

/Edit:

Eagles find fish not only by searching themselves but also by following other eagles andother birds to dead fish and concentrations of fish (McClelland et al. 1982, Harmata1984). Bald Eagles often prefer to acquire fish by stealing from other eagles and other species rather than acquiring it on their own (Stalmaster and Gessaman 1984). On several occasions, I have seen eagles follow river otters and steal their catch. They also steal food from sea otters (White et al. 1971), Ospreys (Hughes 1982a), mergansers and gulls (Stalmaster 1987).

Bald Eagles also take advantage of fish captured, injured, or driven to the surface of the water by other fish predators. They will feed on fish killed by bears and wolves (Gard1971, Hansen et al. 1984), injured by whales and sea lions (Hyde 1990) and driven to the surface by loons (Dixon 1909), seals (Ofelt 1975) and salmon (Beebe 1974).

Human activities also may provide fish for Bald Eagles. Commercial, sport and subsistence fishermen often catch and release unwanted fish. Many of the released fish are crippled or dead and eagles feed upon them (Beebe 1974, Dunstan and Harper 1975, Hansen et al. 1984, Dennis 1990). Eagles also take advantage of fish and their parts that are discarded by fish hatcheries in Southeast Alaska (Walsh 1990b).

Among all of the different ways that Bald Eagles obtain fish, two, in particular, are probably more important. (1) The number of salmon carcasses that bears scoop out of rivers and streams seems quite significant. When food is abundant, particularly late in the summer, bears foraging spawned out salmon carcasses tend to eat only the fat-rich brains and eggs, leaving the rest of the carcasses on river bars and banks. The remaining larger portions of the carcasses can then be eaten by Bald Eagles. Many spawned out salmon carcasses originally settle into deep pools. Were it not for the bears they would be difficult or impossible for eagles to obtain.
https://www.naturebob.com/sites/default/files/The Importance of Fish to Bald Eagles in Southeast Alaska by Armstrong.pdf

[Abby08]

My daughter was part of the raptor free flight program at the Arizona/Sonora desert museum, she worked with a Harris hawk...they did shows for audiences a couple times a day.

We once saw a pair of Bald Eagles fishing in Big Lake, in Pinetop Arizona, it was so cool, they'd swoop down and snag a fish, so effortlessly.

[Captain Obvious]

Didn't have eagles frequenting in PA when I lived there but had lots of birds of prey, hawks mostly, big ones too.

I hit one with my truck on the highway once, didn't see it dart out of trees in the median, blew right through my plastic grill. I drove for 10 minutes until the next exit then pulled off expecting to pull a dead hawk out of my grill. Nope, he was jammed in there pretty hard but fully alert. My family abandoned me when my son yelled out "he's still alive" when I was digging for my work gloves.

So long story short, there is no non business end on a bird this size and needless to say this hawk wasn't happy about the situation. With ice scraper in hand and gloves on (and family back in the truck, windows rolled up) I managed to pry this thing out of the broken grill. It landed on the ground and I called the state police who told me "meh... your problem, not ours". What was I going to do, put this bird out of it's misery with an ice scraper?

Then it suddenly started running and flew off, as I was on the phone with the police. I was stunned, I nailed this thing going 80, it blew through my grill and was pressed against my radiator for at least 20 minutes (cost me 250 for a new grill too), guy on the line said "you're good" lol

[Standing Wolf]

My daughter was part of the raptor free flight program at the Arizona/Sonora desert museum, she worked with a Harris hawk...they did shows for audiences a couple times a day....

The Harris Hawk is a great favorite of mine. I really think they should be Arizona's state bird. They live and hunt cooperatively in groups (of two to seven) more than any other raptor.

[DGUtley]

We’ve had Peregrine Falcons in Akron near my office for a few years. Fast. I have seen them catch a pigeon and smash it against a building.

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[Peter1469]

Didn't have eagles frequenting in PA when I lived there but had lots of birds of prey, hawks mostly, big ones too.

I hit one with my truck on the highway once, didn't see it dart out of trees in the median, blew right through my plastic grill. I drove for 10 minutes until the next exit then pulled off expecting to pull a dead hawk out of my grill. Nope, he was jammed in there pretty hard but fully alert. My family abandoned me when my son yelled out "he's still alive" when I was digging for my work gloves.

So long story short, there is no non business end on a bird this size and needless to say this hawk wasn't happy about the situation. With ice scraper in hand and gloves on (and family back in the truck, windows rolled up) I managed to pry this thing out of the broken grill. It landed on the ground and I called the state police who told me "meh... your problem, not ours". What was I going to do, put this bird out of it's misery with an ice scraper?

Then it suddenly started running and flew off, as I was on the phone with the police. I was stunned, I nailed this thing going 80, it blew through my grill and was pressed against my radiator for at least 20 minutes (cost me 250 for a new grill too), guy on the line said "you're good" lol

I would expect it died a short time later.

[Tahuyaman]

I was deployed up to Adak, AK in the late '70s, and they had many bald eagles there. It was a little disenchanting, if that's the right word, to see them hanging around the dumpsters and digging in the garbage for food.

They are like crows up there.