There is a story that when the founding fathers decided to make the bald eagle the national symbol, Ben Franklin objected. The bald eagle, he maintained, was a scavenger, ill mannered and ill tempered. The Wild Turkey, he argued, was a far better symbol for our new nation. As with many things it appears that old Ben was right. Bald Eagles are as common in Dutch Harbor as seagulls, and not nearly as well behaved. They are breathtaking in flight, but they are also dumpster divers and hecklers. One particularly scraggly fellow gave me the stinkeye as he was perched on the edge of the dumpster behind the Grand Alaska Hotel. He pulled himself up to his full hight clicked his beak once or twice, then spread his wings and dove in. There are also the biggest ravens I have ever seen, as big as red tail hawks. They look like the flew right off of the lonely Mountain in the hobbit, I almost expect them to talk to me.