While we can watch bald eagle family life online at the Hays nest in Pittsburgh, we can’t see how the male eagle captures the food he brings to his lady. His hunting happens far away.
This photo taken in Florida by Chuck Tague shows how bald eagles do it. They fly over, keep their eagle eyes on the prey, and pounce. Eight sharp talons grasp the fish (or duck) and the job is done.
Watch out below!
(photo by Chuck Tague)
I got to see a New Brighton eagle catch a fish in the shallows below Townsend Dam 2 weeks ago (of course, I didn’t have the camera ready so no pix of the actual catch!) It was pretty cool to watch though. After the eagle took its prize to a nearby tree for dinner, a great blue heron showed up to try its luck in the same spot. But the fish must have been laying low, since the heron caught nothing while I was there.