On Lake Tye in Monroe today an eagle went after a group of about 40 coots.
It was interesting that the coots did not dive, instead they all
flew-scooted along the waters surface in all random directions. None of them
dove, none of them flew up which I assumed was an intelligent plan on their
part. The eagle soared and dipped at the coots 3 times, and never really
seemed to have much of a shot at catching one, they moved surprisingly fast
and one under siege changed directions on a dime and left the eagle grasping
air. I always sort of had a poor opinion of coots, like they were the dumb,
slow cousins of ducks (actually I know they are not at all related) and now
that I have seen them move under stress I think better of them for some
reason.

Later an eagle, maybe the same one stooped over a large group of widgeon who
all managed to get themselves fully under water and out of the way. It was
interesting that all the group came up to the surface at once, a good
strategy to minimize your risk of being he whom gets eaten.

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