You ask why your hungry Bald Eagle with a live Red-tail in its talons
didn't kill and eat the Red-tail. You could argue that this eagle was
training the Red-tail to drop its prey when it saw the eagle coming.
The eagle would then function as a parasite and the Red-tail as a host
that might feed the eagle for its life-time. A good parasite doesn't
kill its host.

-Stewart.

Stewart Wechsler

Sharing Knowledge and Enthusiasm for Plants, Animals and Fungi and the
mutually supportive local communities that we humans share with them

Nature walks and adventures for all ages and levels:
child to grandchild, novice to old professor

West Seattle

206 932-7225


On 11:59 AM, Bud Anderson wrote:
> The recent post on Bald Eagles and Red-tailed Hawks motivates me to
> report an incident I witnessed near the runways at Sea-Tac Airport
> last week.
> I was working the airfield and observed a second year Bald Eagle in
> aggressive flight mode pursuing a juvenile (SY) Red-tailed Hawk across
> the sky about 100' up. The Red made the mistake of trying to escape
> downwind in a fairly stiff SW wind. It might have been wiser to try
> and escape upwind, using its presumed lighter wing loading to its
> advantage. But...bad move by an inexperienced bird.
> The Bald Eagle easily caught the hawk in mid-air and carried it to the
> ground right in front of us. I've been looking at raptors for awhile
> now and was completely amazed to see this event. I have never
> witnessed this type of behavior before. The Bald Eagle had the
> Red-tail on its back in some tall grass and all we could see were both
> redtail wingtips pointed up towards the sky. I felt certain that the
> eagle had killed and was now going to eat the hawk.
> However, after approximately 12 minutes, the eagle simply stepped off
> the hawk and released it. The hawk jumped up, doing the best WTF I
> have ever seen a bird do, shook its plumage and took off. The eagle
> gave chase once more and easily caught the red-tail a second time. It
> looked effortless to me.
> The birds landed again and this time the eagle let the hawk go almost
> immediately. I noticed that it kept looking at the hawks feet. I had
> also noticed that when the hawk flew away, it held one leg down,
> obviously the result of an injury. Seeing this, I realized that the
> eagle thought the hawk had food and was trying to kleptoparasitize it.
> It apparently had no intention of killing the redtail. It just wanted
> the vole or whatever.
> In fact, as we drove closer to see if the hawk was OK, the eagle shot
> off again at another flying laden SY Red-tail, and easily caught up to
> it. However, this hawk wisely dropped the vole. The eagle flew down to
> the ground, recovered the mammal and ate it on the spot.
> The red-tail was disheveled but flew away easily. I saw it again the
> next day and it was still flying well at that time, leg dangling.
> What puzzles me is that the eagle was obviously hungry. It had a
> red-tail in its foot which it could have easily killed and eaten but
> it didn't. Why not?
>
> --
> Bud Anderson
> Falcon Research Group
> Box 248
> Bow, WA 98232
> (360) 757-1911
> falconresearch at gmail.com <mailto:falconresearch at gmail.com>


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