Many years ago a friend and I were birding on Merritt Island NWR when I
spotted a Sedge Wren. As I trained my binoculars on the wren, my friend
said "Ted, you have to see this." By the time I looked, the initial
attack had occurred, and a Bald Eagle was in the water, pushing itself
forward with its wings-- trying to catch up to its target, a
densely-packed flotilla of American Coots. The coots at the rear of the
flotilla kept their eyes on the eagle. Each time it got close, it would
thrust its talons forward, out of the water, into the pack. And, each
time, the back of the flotilla would separate-- the eagle would get
nothing but water, over and over again, until it finally gave up. What I
had missed, that my friend saw, was the initial attack. The eagle had
stooped on middle of the flotilla, which opened just in time to give the
eagle open water for a splash down.

Ted Lewis




> Rob,
>
> We saw an adult eagle catch a Bufflehead on Lake Washington a few years
> ago, so some eagles learn how to catch them, and/or this was a Bufflehead
> at the low end of the predator-escape curve. Coots and Western Grebes seem
> particularly susceptible to the eagle methods of hunting diving birds.
>
> Dennis
>
> On Feb 29, 2012, at 8:28 PM, Rob Sandelin wrote:
>
>> I was out at Double bluff park on Whidbey Island today. I walked about
>> 3 miles south and a Juv. eagle spent the better part of 20 minutes
>> seriously trying to grab some bufflehead for lunch. About a dozen feisty
>> little ducks easily out maneuvered the predator and it was like a game
>> of whack a mole, only played by somebody really slow. The eagle was
>> using the wind to soar aloft and when it dove for a duck, they would
>> dive, then as the eagle regained a bit of altitude they would all pop up
>> within a few seconds of each other. It appeared the eagle had a hard
>> time singling out a victim although I noticed that the ducks were all
>> pretty evenly spaced apart, yet still close enough to be a sort of
>> group. After several minutes of not even coming close I thought the
>> eagle would give up. It did soar higher and off shore a bit, then
>> dropped down and rode the wind really fast and low to the water. That
>> didn?t work either. As I was walking back I came across a group of
>> mallards, which surprised me as I rarely see them on Salt water. I
>> would imagine those would have been a much easier target. I wondered
>> about what the predator prey identification learning curve is. Do eagles
>> discriminate between species, learning which ones are easier to catch?
>> If so, today?s eagle learned Buffleheads are not a good choice.
>>
>> Rob Sandelin
>> Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
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>
> -----
> Dennis Paulson
> 1724 NE 98 St.
> Seattle, WA 98115
> 206-528-1382
> dennispaulson at comcast.net
>
>
>
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