A Montana "Eagle story"


I went out to tend my crops for a bit, to finish a field before tomorrow morning and witnessed The Great Battle. A golden eagle - big bastard, about six foot wingspan - flew right in front of the tractor. It was being chased by three crows that were continually dive bombing it and pecking at it. The crows do this because the eagles rob their nests when they find them.



At any rate, the eagle banked hard right in one evasive maneuver, then landed in the field about 100 feet from the tractor. This eagle stood about 3 feet tall. The crows all landed too and took up positions around the eagle at 120 degrees apart, but kept their distance at about 20 feet from the big bird. The eagle would take a couple steps towards one of the crows and they'd hop backwards and forward to keep their distance. Then the reinforcement showed up.



I happened to spot the eagle's mate hurtling down out of the sky at what appeared to be approximately Mach 1.5. Just before impact the eagle on the ground took flight, (obviously a coordinated tactic; probably pre-briefed) and the three crows which were watching the grounded eagle, also took flight thinking they were going to get in some more pecking on the big bird.



The first crow being targeted by the diving eagle never stood a snowball's chance in hell. There was a mid-air explosion of black feathers and that crow was done. The diving eagle then banked hard left in what had to be a 9G climbing turn, using the energy it had accumulated in the dive, and hit crow #2 less than two seconds later. Another crow dead.



The grounded eagle, which was now airborne and had an altitude advantage on the remaining crow, which was streaking eastward in full burner, made a short dive then banked hard right when the escaping crow tried to evade the hit. It didn't work - crow #3 bit the dust at about 20 feet altitude.



This aerial battle was better than any air show I've been to, including the warbirds show at Oshkosh ! The two eagles ripped the crows apart and ate them on the ground, and as I got closer and closer working my way across the field, I passed within 20 feet of one of them as it ate its catch. It stopped and looked at me as I went by and you could see in the look of that bird that it knew who's Boss Of The Sky. What a beautiful bird!



I love it. Not only did they kill their enemy, they ate them.



One of the best Fighter Pilot stories I've seen in a long time

Great story, and it is indeed amazing to observe those guys in flight. One day, just one day, I'd like to able to fly like one of those guys....

For three years I worked in Cold Bay, Alaska. It's not the end of the world, but you can see it from there on the rare clear day. My house sat up on a big sheer bluff on a sort of point sticking out into Cold Bay itself. From my dining room windows, I had a great view of the birds traversing those bluffs, bald eagles, ravens, gulls, ducks and geese. Mealtime often provided better entertainment than television. Actually, there WAS no television in CDB back then, but I digress.

The rather large resident raven population roosted in Navy Town, the long abandoned USN WWII village to the south of CDB. They spent most of their daylight time at the CDB dump, which was north of my house. Thus, every morning and evening I would get a great front seat view of some of the best flyers on the planet. Ravens seem to enjoy flight immensely, and they show it. Tumbling, rolls, etc. were all part of their repertoir. And, when the wind was blowing (wind always blows in CDB) the burbles off that bluff gave the birds more play time for their money.

One afternoon I was watching out the window during the evening migration from the dump back to their night roost, and soon a bald eagle showed up, and started working the updrafts coming off that bluff, soaring, and wheeling around in the eddies created by the southeast wind. Soon, a gaggle of three ravens showed up, and it appeared they just couldn't resist the opportunity for a hassle. They commenced diving on the eagle, who immediately began maneuvering, chasing the ravens.

I thought this would be a no brainer in favor of the ravens, but it soon became apparent to both me and the ravens that this was one no joke maneuverable bald eagle. This eagle was really giving the ravens a run for their money, but they kept at him. This went on for several minutes, with huge swoops upward, followed by tucks and dives, flips, and incredible maneuvers that I'd never seen any bird perform.

Finally, at one point the eagle was in a power dive at a raven, shot down past him, and as he passed him, the eagle caught himself with his wings, flipped feet straight up, and grabbed the raven that thought he'd just escaped. A few black feathers flew, and the eagle turned him loose, and they continued their dogfight for another minute or so, but you could tell the ravens hearts weren't in it.... The big guy had counted coup.

Soon, the ravens moved on to their night roost, and the eagle continued to soar on the bluff, looking for fish in the bay.

Fighter combat was never like that, and of course, no camera, movie or otherwise.

MTV

I loved that story. Thanks. I have no doubt those eagles knew exactly what they were doing. It reminded me of a wildlife video I saw of Killer whales coordinating to get seals that were on the beach. The seals know the whales are there, so one whale comes in real close to beach where seals are watching from the safety of dry land, and the whale makes sure that he is very visible and turns next to shore and continues down the shoreline with his dorsal fin sticking way up so the seals can see it. The seals are all looking at the departing whale and when they see that its a safe distance away they head into the ocean only to be gobbled up by another whale who has been hiding nearby submerged and out of site. Love that stuff.

Back to eagles. A few years ago I was walking along Lake Washington here next to Kirkland WA. We see eagles around here a lot and also lots of seagulls without much interaction between the two. I looked up just in time to see a juvenile bald eagle hit a seagull in mid air and land with it on a piling right in front of me and about a dozen other people at the park. It began to pluck feathers as the hapless gull tried its best to wriggle free. The torture didnt last too long and the eagle had its meal with momma eagle watching with approval nearby. Didnt think eagles cared much about seagulls, but aparently this youngster didnt know any better. All the other seagulls were having fits while this was going on. Naturally I didnt have my video camera.

I've noticed that smaller birds tend to dive bomb and harass larger birds. I've seen sparrows haranguing crows, crows after eagles, owls etc,. The relatively smaller bird being maneuverable than the larger bird, it can usually get away with it.

I was flying down a river not long ago and was told, "fly slow and watch out for eagles and hawks", they have a tendency to dive bomb the airplanes. I guess it really is all relative.

There's a resident golden I've been seeing for 20 plus years when dead stick ridge soaring on the mountain behind my place, it could very well be the same one, I understand they can live to be 50+ years?? I like to think so anyway.
Yeah, when one eyeballs you up close and personal, there is no doubt who's top dog, my old hang gliding buddies all have similar stories, what a scarey thrill to see one close up!

My dad told me he watched a bald eagle grab a fish out of the water and in flight lost it, but caught it again before it hit the water.

It is the hawks in our country..airplanes don't seem to intimidate them at all...they just kind of look at you as you go around them..they don't move for you. The starlings give them a real fit, but I've never seen the hawks turn on the harrasing birds...maybe I just need to watch closer.
HC

Last summer my wife and I were out in the yard when a Red Tailed Hawk flew over. He was being dive bombed by some sparrows. Apparently when he had all the aggravation he could tolerate, simply roll on to his back and snatched one of the little bastards right out of the air. That ended the that harassment.

My office sits on top of a hill that we own. Great view of the valley which we all admire. One day I see this medium size groundhog waddling along about where the grass meets the corn field. Out of the sky this bald eagle hits the goundhog and kills it instantly. He struts around for a minute then goes over and puts a claw on the dead goundhog. He throws his head back and starts calling. About 5 - 6 minutes later his mate comes along and lands beside him. He backs off the groundhog and gives her first crack at the meal. They must have spent 30 minutes there having lunch. Quite a sight!

I saw this a while back.I wouldn't screw with one of those birds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re644qgn ... re=related

Bill

I never knew! Great video!

Fantastic video of the eagles. It looks like they don't have a huge edge on the wolves. I wonder how often they end up dead instead of the wolf. Must not be too often, or the handlers wouldn't keep hunting that way.

I'd sure like to see that in person. I'd fly over there for a look, but the wolves would probably mistake my plane for an eagle and attack it.

tom

Speaking of eagles. If you want to see eagles up close and personal, try Adak Island in the Aleutian Islands. Around 1980 I was hired to do a diving job on a crippled Crab boat that was holed up at the navy supply dock at Adak. It had broken a rudder shaft and myself and another guy were hired to go there and remove it so they could fix it. (a story in itself). Anyway, as you can see by the photo's I shot shown below, the eagles were everywhere. Just think of seagulls at the seashore, only replace them with bald eagles.



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I've been around a while but I never knew eagles could take on a wolf and win!

As a student of history I know that people have used eagles and other raptors to hunt for centuries. It just never dawned on me to think of a wolf as prey species for a bird!

I seen countless hawks being harassed by smaller birds; but never saw any small birds screw with falcons. I've begun to see eagles more often in the river valleys and along creeks here in Pennsylvania. I've flown by some that were not the least bit impressed by my presence in their airspace. In fact they looked at me as if they resented my being there.

While I've always admired them, I have a new respect for them after seeing that video.