Subject: Eagles with wet feet
Date: May 31 18:37:22 2001
From: MartinMuller - MartinMuller at email.msn.com


Eagles with wet feetSteve wrote:

"This morning I saw a pair of Bald Eagles perched on a log which is very low
in the water with one end slightly submerged."

and

"Any of you eagle watchers have any thoughts on this behavior?"

Steve, tweets,

Maybe if you hang back and around for a while you'll see the adults taking a
bath. My guess is that's what you saw, or at least part of it.

I've watched eagles many times sidling along a partly submersed log from the
dry part onto the wet part until they are either just in the water or with
part of their belly dunked too. Typically they stand around and scan for a
while, presumably to scan for potential danger. This is then followed by
fluffing out the belly and breast feathers, dipping the head in water and
splashing it over the back, flapping the partly opened wings vigorously
sending spray for many feet. When the bird is good and wet it will head to a
higher perch and spend minutes, sometimes up to several hours preening,
drying, scratching, etc.

Hope you get to see the bathing sometime.
Cheers,
Martin Muller, Seattle