I had 90 minutes to kill while my son was playing tennis at a club in Mountlake
Terrace,?so I stopped at nearby?Lake Ballinger's fishing?pier to check on the
eagles which hang out there and hopefully take some photos.

When I arrived, one eagle was perched in a tree on the island in the middle of
the lake.? It gave me a few teases when it relocated to a bush on the island,
then flew north across the lake to its regular perch on the tall snag on the
private golf course adjacent to the park.? It later flew south to the tall firs
on 205th St. just over the King County line. I did not see a second eagle which
joined it until I studied my photos on the computer after I returned home. They
both disappeared into the distant firs.


I was about ready to leave to pick up my son when one of the eagles returned for
a dramatic dive sequence which unfolded in front of me.? According to the time
markings on my photos, the dive sequence unfolded as follows:


The eagle imitated an osprey and?spent six seconds hovering over one spot on the
lake.? It then?spent five seconds?making a complete circle to return over the
same spot.??After hovering?for?another five seconds, it dove into the water feet
first like an osprey.??I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to flag
down a nearby fisherman in his boat and initiate a rescue operation?when eagle
remained in the water for what seemed like a long time.

?After eight seconds in the water, the eagle flew up with its prey, a
coot.??Flying low to the water, it hauled the coot to the southeast corner of
the lake and perched on a tree to eat it.

I don't know if the eagle remained in the water for so long because it had
difficulty?securing the coot, which according to my?(out of?focus) shot had
dived just prior to the eagle's impact on the water,? or if it was?a deliberate
act on the part of the eagle to subdue the coot by drowning it.??While the
eagles may?have copied the osprey's style of diving feet first, they have yet to
learn the osprey's trick of lightening their payload by?pausing to shake?water
off their bodies after becoming airborn.?

Bill Anderson; Edmonds, WA.