An old story that will keep haunting us forever.

[John Baker]

I don't care, I love reading it again anyway. Who knows, there might even be some who have never read it?

John

Subject: : Got Your Back--You fighter jocks will love this! ​

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Kill'em and Eat'e m ​

This came from a gent who runs a 2,000-acre corn farm up around Barron , WI , not far from Oshkosh . He used to fly F-4Es and F-16s for the Guard, and participated in the first Gulf War. His story:I went out to plant corn for a bit, to finish a field before tomorrow morning and witnessed The Great Battle. A golden eagle -- big, with about a six-foot wingspan - flew right in front of the tractor. It was being chased by three crows that were continually dive bombing it and pecking at it. The crows do this because the eagles rob their nests when they find them. ​

Description: eagle vs crow.jpg
Description: eagle-golden and crow.jpg ​

At any rate, the eagle banked hard right in one evasive maneuver, then landed in the field about 100 feet from the tractor. This eagle stood about 3 feet tall. The crows all landed too and took up positions around the eagle at 120 degrees apart, but kept their distance at about 20 feet from the big bird. The eagle would take a couple steps towards one of the crows and they'd hop backwards and forward to keep their distance. Then the reinforcement showed up. ​

I happened to spot the eagle's mate hurtling down out of the sky at what appeared to be approximately Mach 1.5. Just before impact, the eagle on the ground took flight, (obviously a coordinated tactic; probably pre-briefed) and the three crows that were watching the grounded eagle also took flight -- thinking they were going to get in some more pecking on the big bird. ​

Description: eagle-golden dive_3 frames.jpg ​

The first crow being targeted by the diving eagle never stood a snowball's chance in hell. There was a mid-air explosion of black feathers, and that crow was done. ​

Description: eagle-golden dive mid-air.jpg ​

The diving eagle then banked hard left in what had to be a 9G climbing turn, using the energy it had accumulated in the dive, and hit crow #2 less than two seconds later. Another crow dead. ​

Description: eagle-golden-last thing crow 1 saw.jpg ​

The grounded eagle, which was now airborne and had an altitude advantage on the remaining crow that was streaking eastward in full burner, made a short dive, then banked hard right when the escaping crow tried to evade the hit. It didn't work - crow #3 bit the dust at about 20 feet AGL. ​

This aerial battle was better than any air show I've been to, including the War Birds show at Oshkosh . The two eagles ripped the crows apart, and ate them on the ground; and, as I got closer and closer working my way across the field, I passed within 20 feet of one of them as it ate its catch. It stopped and looked at me as I went by, and you could see in the look of that bird that it knew who's Boss of the Sky. What a beautiful bird! ​

Description: eagle-golden eating crow.jpg ​

I loved it. Not only did they kill their enemy, they ate them. One of the best Fighter Pilot stories I've seen in a long time. ​

Description: cid:X.MA7.1313625648@aol.com
What a beautiful example of one mate having their mate's back ~ just like we humans do! ​

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[Tom-D]

great read,, I love it too.

Man thinks he knows how to fly but he isn't really at home in the sky.

 

[Jaybird180]

Well, not totally useless. But would have made a great video.

 

[dell30rb]

I was leaving early one morning to do some fishing and I startled an osprey (a fairly good sized hawk that preys on fish) that was sitting in a tree by the dock eating a fish. The osprey took off over open water carrying its fish.

Few seconds later I HEAR a bald eagle in a 80mph (or faster) dive - I can literally hear the "whoosh" of the bird as it dives on this osprey. It pulled out of the dive at the last second, sideswiped the osprey and the startled bird dropped its fish and all but crashed into the water. The eagle did the equivalent of a wingover and dove on the dropped fish, the osprey did not even look back

 

[Tom-D]

A few years back, I was out fishing almost every morning when the salmon were running, I was fishing off the west coast of Fidalgo Island a few hundred yards north of Deception Pass, when I saw a Bald Eagle cruising about 4 feet off the water, it suddenly thew out the speed brakes and the talons and grabbed a salmon out of the water, But, the fish was a little too much for the eagle to lift, and both crashed back into the water. they splashed around for a few seconds and the eagle let go, and got airborne again. he then flew his way to a big fir snag on the cliff above me and shook the water out of his feathers and started his visual for another fish.

It's pretty common to see the Eagles fishing here specially in the spring salmon runs.

 

[slacktide]

A few years back, I was out fishing almost every morning when the salmon were running, I was fishing off the west coast of Fidalgo Island a few hundred yards north of Deception Pass, when I saw a Bald Eagle cruising about 4 feet off the water, it suddenly thew out the speed brakes and the talons and grabbed a salmon out of the water, But, the fish was a little too much for the eagle to lift, and both crashed back into the water. they splashed around for a few seconds and the eagle let go, and got airborne again. he then flew his way to a big fir snag on the cliff above me and shook the water out of his feathers and started his visual for another fish.

It's pretty common to see the Eagles fishing here specially in the spring salmon runs.

Tom - I saw an bald eagle take a pink salmon yesterday just south of Mukilteo. Snagged it right out of the water, but couldn't climb out of ground effect. He managed to get the fish onto the bank, dropped it, then circled back for breakfast. Impressive. We got 2 salmon and about a dozen crabs.

 

[Tom-D]

Tom - I saw an bald eagle take a pink salmon yesterday just south of Mukilteo. Snagged it right out of the water, but couldn't climb out of ground effect. He managed to get the fish onto the bank, dropped it, then circled back for breakfast. Impressive. We got 2 salmon and about a dozen crabs.

One of the funniest things I have seen an eagle do was try to get a momma duck and her brood, in a small pond by OKH a Mallard pair had a nest that the eagle want to eat the babies, the momma duck hid her brood in the cat tail reeds and make war on the eagle, she took off the Eagle made pursuit, the duck made a "U" turn and hit the water, dived and the Eagle crashed in the water right behind her, the duck grabbed the Eagle by the wing and tried to drown the eagle, the eagle would get loose and surface, look around for the duck, and then take off, with the duck in trail, the duck would make a "U" turn and the eagle would try again, the duck would hit the water and dive, and the eagle would crash again. this went on for about 10 minutes until the eagle got tired of the ducks game.

 

[Tom-D]

Tom - I saw an bald eagle take a pink salmon yesterday just south of Mukilteo. Snagged it right out of the water, but couldn't climb out of ground effect. He managed to get the fish onto the bank, dropped it, then circled back for breakfast. Impressive. We got 2 salmon and about a dozen crabs.

Do you know what the Alaskian Native calls pink Salmon?







Dog Food.

 

[Ghery]

The story I heard on Adak many years ago was that the eagles would eat so much salmon during the runs that they couldn't fly. Way over max gross. They'd just waddle around. The sailors found it quite amusing.

 

[Tom-D]

The story I heard on Adak many years ago was that the eagles would eat so much salmon during the runs that they couldn't fly. Way over max gross. They'd just waddle around. The sailors found it quite amusing.

that may be true, but if there is any thing I learned from a single look was I would not like being bitten by old white headed hatchet face.

 

[Jack Spectre]

The story I heard on Adak many years ago was that the eagles would eat so much salmon during the runs that they couldn't fly. Way over max gross. They'd just waddle around. The sailors found it quite amusing.

You gotta store fat for the lean times...