Rob, what you witnessed was probably just a little bit of play. If he/she
caught it, I have no doubt he/she would have ate it. Sometimes the birds of
prey forget that when they're playing with prey (like merlins "playing" with
swallows) that they sometimes will accidentally kill them. Why not make a
meal of it. Golden eagles in far out places like Yellowstone and eastern WA
etc., when it's the heart of winter and they have little prey to feed on.
They go about scavenging with ravens and magpies, coyotes etc. When a coyote
gets to close to that golden, it's not uncommon for them to leap at them
accipiter style and dig their talons into the face or chest of the coyote.
Same goes for other eagles, bald and golden, but they tend to ignore the
corvids for whatever reason. Ravens are fair game since they're so dang big,
at least that's what I'd think if I were an eagle. :) The neat thing is,
that when predator plays with prey, or predator interacts with other
predator, you never know when they'll become serious, because it's usually
so instantaneous, that only the quick can avoid it.

It would be nice if we could get tweeters members to start sharing their
eagle stories again, it's very fun to read them. Doesn't have to be
eagles,can be falcons, accipiters. Whatever.


Blake Iverson
Arington, WA
coopershwk at hotmail.com

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