Bald eagles hunt ducks and geese frequently - here in western Washington
they make up a huge part of their diet. They will and do take snow
geese - they hit them in the air and take them to the ground - they are
too heavy to fly with.

Last week I was working at my desk and noticed a bald eagle diving at
something on the lake. I put my camera on it (it was a couple of
hundred yards away) and saw a male mallard walking around on the ice.
He was unable to dive due to the ice and could not get enough traction
to take off quickly. On about the 5th dive the eagle captured the
mallard and flew away with it. The place he flew was right off the road
on the other side of the lake so I threw the camera in my car and drove
over there.

He was perched on a post about 3 feet off the ground when I first
arrived, sitting on the mallard. He flew with it over to a log stuck in
the ice, fairly close to me, and proceeded to have his meal. The
mallard was alive for about 5 to 10 minutes while the eagle ate him. It
was one of those exciting but difficult things to watch - I know the
eagle has to eat but that poor mallard.

These are not the greatest of images as the scene was backlit but here
are images of the eagle and the mallard. They are somewhat graphic so
if you can't handle that sort of thing don't go and look. A few of them
show the mallard clearly alive......

http://www.wisenaturephotos.com/Eagle%20eating.htm

Cathy Wise
cathy.wise at cingular.com
Oak Harbor, WA