Re: Riviting Encounter: Eagles Hunting
Harry Fisher (fish8553@dpnet.net)
Mon, 30 Nov 1998 23:30:37 -0500
David Winer wrote:
> This morning (Saturday, November 28) one of the participants on the
> Wild Bird Center walk from Potomac Village said, "An eagle, flying!"
> All binoculars went to the Bald Eagle over the Potomac about a half
> mile above Great Falls. The eagle was circling at about 50 feet.
> Immediately its mate joined the rotating parade. Then we discovered
> what the exercise was about-- an American Coot was under attack. The
> coot would dive each time an eagle approached. This behavior went on
> for several minutes without any resolution. Then the eagles changed
> their tactics. One would make a gliding approach to the coot, driving
> it down. The second eagle would be in trail, about five seconds
> behind, so that the coot was forced under water continuously for long
> periods. Next, the eagles introduced short phases of hovering, Osprey
> and Harrier style, to hold the coot down longer. The hapless prey
> could only stay on the surface momentarily. Suddenly one of the
> eagles simply dropped from about 20 feet to the water and stopped...
> just floating motionless. We figured that it had the coot in its
> talons and was drowning it. Sure enough, after a couple of minutes,
> the eagle began what someone termed a dog-paddle with its wings,
> heading toward a rock island about 50 yards away. When it reached the
> rock and climbed out of the river it had the coot. Soon, the eagle
> flew downstream with its prize. Later, across from the viewing
> platform near the Great Fall Tavern, we came upon a spectacle of eagle
> ripping coot into shreds on a log while the eagle's mate waited in a
> branch overhead. -- Dave Winer davidwiner@erols.com
> Dave:
> Thanks for a great story. It brought to mind a similar scenario I
> witnessed on a trip about 8 years ago. The same characters, a pair of
> eagles, and one hapless duck being forced repeatedly underwater. It
> was like something right out of Wild Kingdom. I had never seen, nor
> have I seen since, eagles operating in this fashion. In this case,
> they expended much valuable energy for naught, as the ( waterlogged )
> duck escaped. We really didn`t know who to root for. I always feel
> sorry for the " underduck ", but at the same time , the eagles missed
> a needed meal. I wish I`d kept the account that a trip member sent to
> me; I wasn`t into keeping records back then.
> Leslie Fisher
> North East MD