I think eagles can be pretty creative. I watched one immature bald eagle
attempting to prey on a colony of kittiwakes in Glacier Bay, Alaska. He
would wait on a perch near the colony until they were mostly settled on
their nests on the rocky cliff. Then he would fly toward them very fast,
causing a big panic and they all flew off in a cloud of birds. He would fly
through the scattering birds trying to pick one off in the air. We watched
him do this about ten times with no success. The fact that he was doing it
at all might mean that it was successful at some time. Or maybe he was just
an oddball juvenile, like some of our children who do goofy things when they
are learning new stuff.

Kevin M. Hill
3406 W. Government Way, #6
Seattle, WA 98199
?
Home: 206-282-4188
Fax:??? 206-629-7745
Cell:?? ?206-257-8316
Mail to:kevin.hill at oceanmasters.biz

www.oceanmasters.biz
(under construction-up soon)



-----Original Message-----
From: tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu
[mailto:tweeters-bounces at mailman1.u.washington.edu] On Behalf Of Rob
Sandelin
Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 21:31
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: [Tweeters] Eagle hunting technique, I wonder if this is typical?

In December there were a large number of Mallards at Shadow Lake in
Snohomish. I watched an eagle swoop down quite low. There was a panic amid
the ducks who all flew helter skelter this way and that. I watched several
collide with each other in the scramble. One poor duck smacked hard into
another and fell into the water, obviously not functioning right. The eagle
came back and picked up this duck who was injured and thrashing about.

Is it common for eagles to spook wildfowl this way in order to induce them
to smack into each other and get injured?


Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer
The Environmental Science School
http://www.nonprofitpages.com/nica/SVE.htm
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