There's a majestic bald eagle living at Toronto Pearson Airport

Following the discovery of the first-ever bald eagle nest in Toronto's history last week, there's another bald eagle living in the city that deserves to share a sliver of the limelight.

Meet Ivan the eagle, the (approximately) twenty-year-old bald eagle who has made it his life's work to protect the airspace around Pearson Airport from other birds.

We're thrilled to hear about the bald eagle nest in Toronto. While we don't have a nest at the airport, we do have Ivan, our in-house bald eagle who specializes in keeping the airspace surrounding the airport clear. https://t.co/Gyfph6c3wu pic.twitter.com/MUd4EOt13K

— Toronto Pearson (@TorontoPearson) March 9, 2024

Acting like an alive-and-more-threatening scarecrow, Ivan takes flight around the airport, scaring off the smaller birds that can present major complications to air travel.

While not the owner of a nest himself (Ivan is proudly living the bachelor lifestyle), Ivan is an unsung hero for the nearly 1000 flights that go in and out of Pearson each day.

So, while he's not currently doing his part to establish the burgeoning bald eagle population in Toronto, he is helping Toronto residents and visitors to fly safely, and he deserves his own 15 minutes of fame for that.

Ivan is accompanied by 30 other birds of prey, including falcons and hawks, that patrol the airspace at Pearson.