Brice Matson wrote:

> 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

Hi all

I missed this at the moment it happened but the engineer that I was
working with at the time told me that he had just witnessed a Bald Eagle
trying to drown a Great Blue Heron that it had caught along the banks of
the Fraser River.

I have also seen a pair of Bald Eagles use the team approach on another
Great Blue Heron. First one attacked and then the next one came in. Both
missed, however.

I have also watched an eagle try to fly down a Glaucous-Winged Gull.
Another miss.

If one watches the distribution of Bald Eagles throughout the winter
months one may notice a distinct separation between the dead fish eating
eagles and those that regularly watch over scattered flocks of ducks. I
think that eagles, like humans have their areas of expertise and they can
not all be categorized as carrion eaters or fish eaters for that matter.

Roger
Maple Ridge BC