If you've ever fed a flock of pigeons or seagulls, you probably recall how greedy and pushy these
feathered friends can be. In fact, seagulls have been well-documented snatching snacks
straight out of tourist’s hands, and pigeons are not shy about demanding their treats either.
Get in a video posted in 2013 from Dutch Harbour Alaska, a fisherman proves that bald Eagles behave
much better than their smaller avian brethren. As he tosses handful after handful of shrimp
onto the deck and the giant birds of prey gobble them up.
Jessie Peck took the world by storm through one video. However, his act of bravery quickly
turned into more than he could handle. Jessie encountered a flock of bald Eagles one day.
Whilst this is a beautiful blessing, there are also dangerous undertones to the scene.
The bald Eagle is not a meek and mild bird. It is one of the greatest birds of prey,
something Jessie would soon discover. Jessie Peck is a fisherman owning a few boats. He was used to
birds frequenting his deck from time to time. He often had tasty morsels of the day's catch
lying around, but he had never encountered more than a handful of Eagles at a time.
However, one day an entire flock began to ominously land on and surround one of his boats.
Jessie was completely taken aback. And when the birds closed in, he did something unimaginable.
Jessie had been a fisherman for years. As such he had grown accustomed to birds visiting his boat,
but he had never seen so many Eagles in one location before.
He had easily counted about 20 birds purged across his boat.
This was truly a sight to behold. Jessie was taken aback by how beautiful the creatures were,
but this was not the first-time man had appreciated the bald Eagle. The first time
led to the Eagle becoming endangered. For many years, the bald Eagle was hunted for sport.
The majestic bird made for a great game trophy, and people were eager to get their hands one.
As such hunting season included the Eagle, so much so the Eagles numbers began to decrease.
However, that wasn't the only problem. The Eagles were in danger for more reasons than one.
And the second cause would see them rocketing to the endangered species list.
The late 18 hundreds saw the first real decline in the bald Eagle species. You see, even though
they were the national bird, people viewed them as pests. Bald Eagles were notorious farm Raiders,
picking off chickens and other smaller livestock,
farmers quickly began to dislike the bird. As such the hunter quickly became the hunted.
The Eagles began to dwindle, as farmers shot them down one by one. Things we're looking dire for
the Eagle. The eradication of the bald Eagle continued for years. It was only in the 1940s
that congress stepped up to protect the bird. In 1940, the bald Eagle protection act was passed.
This made it illegal to hunt and kill the bird. With that the Eagle began to thrive once more,
but that was only momentarily. Something more sinister than farmers began to encroach
on the Eagle's way of life. So technically farmers were involved in the second Cole of the Eagle,
but not directly. You see in 1950, a pesticide known as DDT was released onto the market.
This quickly became all the rage amidst fare, spraying their crops and hopes of yielding a
better harvest, but this had dire consequences on the Eagle. DDT began to infect the Eagle's diet.
As such the bird once more began to die off until something incredible happened. Once again,
a movement against the threat on the Eagle was a drawn-out process.
It was only in 1972 that are risky law was passed. The environmental protection agency
made a controversial call to ban the use of DDT within America. At the time, there were only a
recorded 452 nesting pairs of bald Eagles still in existence. However, the bird has struggled to
repopulate since then. And Jessie Peck knew this. Walking towards his boat, Jessie was met with a
staggering site. An entire flock of bald Eagles had descended upon his vessel. This took him back,
as he approached the birds. They did not seem to budge.
They were totally unperturbed by his presence. Tentatively Jessie gathered up a bucket of scraps
for feeding. Slowly, the birds drew closer. This gave Jesse a fake lol of confidence,
but then he decided to do something unthinkable. Suddenly the birds became enthralled in Jessie.
They realized that he had what they were after. It didn't take long for them to flock to the
deck for their share of the scraps. Jessie realized he had entered into a feeding frenzy.
However, he was not bothered by it. Amazingly he seemed to be calm, confident even, but then his
confidence became a risky. Jessie took his life into his own hands through one action.
Jessie fell into a false sense of calm. He believed the birds truly meant him no harm.
However, this led him to become cocky. In one moment of misjudgement, Jessie did something wild.
He held out a piece of fish in his hand toward an Eagle, whilst Eagles have not been known to
attack people. They are wild animals. One snap of the beet could easily tear through flesh,
but Jessie decided to attempt fate. Unbelievably the Eagles refuse to react to Jessie,
even though he held what they wanted in the Palm of his hand, they did not budge.
It would appear that their trust and humankind had been solidified through years of mistreatment.
This took Jesse back. So he continued to merely throw the scraps to the birds.
Remarkably Jessie had filmed the entire event. One of his co-workers had luckily been present
with a camera and Jessie composed a video montage dedicated to the remarkable experience.
However, when he posted this to YouTube, he did not expect the response that received.
To date, the video has a mass millions of views. This just goes to show how many people respect
and appreciate what he had done. Jessie’s video managed to inspire people. He shed light onto the
majesty of the bald Eagle and showed how even one man can make a difference, to the bird survival,
The comments left below his video were incredible. The weather channel even requested permission
to share the video on their various social media platforms. All in all the video inspired thousands
of watchers. But what did it all mean for Jessie? Jessie continues to roam the oceans and he plans
on continuing to feed and bond with the Eagles. This experience was truly a once in a lifetime
opportunity. One many would sacrifice to experience, but Jesse was lucky enough to
enjoy the wonder of the Eagles. For him it was all in a day's work. Just another day
on an Alaskan fishing boat, but for the world, it was a moving humbling gesture.