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Eagles do eat birds...



I've seen bald eagles kill healthy birds twice. The first was my first
sighting of an eagle, 24 years ago- I saw an immature bird nab a healthy
bufflehead (after harassing a flock of the ducks for about 10 minutes)
on Falls Reservoir on the Yadkin between Badin and Tillery lakes.

The second was awesome. North of Sacramento, CA I watched an adult kill
a blue phase snow goose at the edge of a large flock at a state wildlife
management area. It ambushed the goose by approaching low from the far
side of a brushy strip along the edge of an impoundment and blowing over
the strip at the last minute like a giant Cooper's hawk. It nailed the
bird with its talons on the neck and back and then fell into the shallow
water on top of it. The bird may have been singled out because most of
the others in its immediate vicinity were white phase birds.

I have also seen them harassing ospreys for fish; they are extremely
acrobatic. Once over Lake Ellis-Simon, we watched one such contest in
which the birds must have gained close to a thousand feet of altitude
before the osprey relinquished its fish. The silvery fish plummeted (we
could see its sides flashing through our binoculars as it fell) and the
eagle almost casually rolled and plucked it from the air as it fell.

Don't sell bald eagles short; they really are masterful fliers and
powerful predators.

Clyde Sorenson
clyde_sorenson@ncsu.edu
Clayton and Raleigh, NC