Hi Scott and Tweets,



I have seen the opposite behavior regularly on the Deschutes River in central Oregon, which hosts a very large Osprey population and several adult Bald Eagles.? Anytime an eagle comes within sight of an active Osprey nest, it is set upon immediately and fiercely?by the Osprey.? I have also seen a pair of Osprey that I have watched successfully fledge birds for at least the last four years attack?a Golden Eagle that was on the ground consuming prey.? The Golden was so bothered that it dragged its meal into the sage to keep the Osprey away.? In the case of the Golden Eagle, the Osprey were coming extremely close to its head on their dives and it was flinching and ducking as if quite concerned.



Judging from?my observations of the ongoing success of the Osprey on the Deschutes, it doesn't seem likely that the eagles on the river do much if any predation on the Osprey nests, which are highly visible and accessible?- most of the Osprey?nest either on poles along the railroad tracks or artificial nesting platforms (most of which don't have the vertical perch feature which I'm told is partly?to prevent the possibility of?eagles swooping on the nests).? Of course, this is only empirical observation, not?a scientific study?- and there are only a few Bald Eagles on the river.? Perhaps if the resident eagle population were higher it would be a different situation.? ?



Raptor experts out there - I'm curious?if eagles are known to successfully predate Osprey nests.





John Tubbs

Snoqualmie, WA

johntubbs at comcast.net


----- Original Message -----
From: "Scott Atkinson" <scottratkinson at hotmail.com>
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Sent: Wednesday, July 1, 2009 2:07:29 PM GMT -08:00 US/Canada Pacific
Subject: [Tweeters] Bald Eagle-Osprey encounter Discovery Park

Tweeters:
?
Moments ago I saw a BALD EAGLE chasing an OSPREY over the South Meadow.? The latter was giving a distressed high-pitched cry, but owing to better maneuverability seemed to be staying just ahead of the eagle, and the Osprey did not disgorge food either.? They both seemed tired because there wasn't much velocity involved here.? Also in the Seattle raptor category, had a PEREGRINE over Gilman Ave on the approach to Discovery Park about 5 pm yesterday.
?
Scott Atkinson
Lake Stevens
mail to:? scottratkinson at hotmail.com






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