Re: Raptors hunting other birds

I've lived about 2 miles from an Osprey/Eagle nest for most of my life
and have been watching the eagles hunting near it. I have seen them
try to catch ducks on the lake below the tree. However, I have never
actually seen an eagle successfully hunt another bird.

I have seen them hunting other places as well and fighting with gulls
over food (the gulls usually win). Has anyone ever seen an eagle
actually kill a duck or other larger bird? I have heard a lot of
stories about the attacks but they all end the same way with the
'victim' escaping.

BTW, one of what I would call the counter-environmentalists (rednecks
would be a shorter term but might include myself so ...) cut down this
locally famous Nesting Tree near my house. The person had heard that
the tree qualified the area as 'habitat' and therefore any logging in
the area would be illegal. He was wrong and stupid because the
plateau above the tree had been clear-cut off for about a year before
he cut down the tree. He was stupid for other reasons too but anyway.

Brice Matson
Cinebar, Lewis County, WA
mailto:matson at myhome.net