Greetings Tweets,

Today, I saw something that quite surprised me. I was birding along the Wenzel Slough Rd., west of the twin silos near the area where the road floods, when I'm observed a female Northern Harrier on a post. After watching the harrier for a little while, it took off and coursed over the field in search of prey. It didn't take long for the harrier to find something, she proceeded to swoop up and hover for a few seconds and then dive down into the grass. The harrier came back up with a small mammal in its talons. She flew a short distance away and landed back into the tall grass to devour her catch.

All this time, I had been ignoring a mature Bald Eagle that was perched in a tall spruce tree that I had spotted before the harrier. Suddenly, while my binoculars were focused on the tall grass where the harrier had landed, the Bald Eagle swooped in and dropped right in on the harrier. I wasn't paying attention when the eagle flew in, but on its way it had flushed several ducks and one Great Blue Heron out of a watery area of the field which filled the air with the sounds of panic. The harrier came flying up out of the grass empty handed. About 30 seconds later, the eagle arose from the grass with the harrier's prey in its talons. The eagle flew right back up to the same spot on the spruce tree where I had first spotted it. The harrier flew off to another post.

Northern Harriers are quite common in this area, as are the Bald Eagles. However, I have never seen an eagle steal another raptor's prey. There is a large nest in this same area which I would assume is an eagle's nest based on its location about half way up the tree. After I moved on, I did see another Bald Eagle with the original one in the same spruce tree. Would this be an example of territorial behavior on the part of the eagles or just the eagle being the dominant species? Just wondering if anyone else has seen something like this before.

Tim O'Brien
Elma, WA
mailto: kertim7179 at centurytel.net