Post by baja252 on Dec 17, 2013 9:12:23 GMT -6
A little while later the lone juvie is still watching over his 10 ducks. The eagles gathered in the background are standing around a couple of duck carcasses.
More swans have moved into the large pool.
There are two convocations (big word for a group of eagles) of eagles in the trees that don’t seem to be interested in what’s going on the ice; the first convocation is across the ice from me.
The other convocation is to the North, in the woods.
These next photos were taken from a very long ways away. I zoomed in as much as I could with the camera and then cropped them further. So they aren’t the best quality, but they are interesting.
While I was looking the other way an adult grabbed a duck out of midair. I turned and snapped this photo as another adult (following) is after his catch.
He missed at stealing the duck and now is in front.
There is only one thing for him to do; execute a Top Gun Maneuver. “Pull up and he’ll fly right by”
It works! Now in the rear again he’s preparing to dive again.
He dove over the top of the other eagle forcing him to drop the duck on the ice below. Notice the eagle in the rear that dropped the duck is already pulling up.
By pulling up first he was able to circle back and get to the duck first.
Within minutes he has even more competition for his meal.
If nine eagles wasn’t bad enough a new competitor comes out on the ice.
Most of the eagles scatter and I have no idea who has the duck.
I do know a coyote and two juvies that don’t have it.
I wish I could have walked out on one of the levees to get closer, but based on the number of warning signs I saw I figured I really didn’t want to spend the night in jail.
About this time I see two other juvies high over the ice. At this point they just look like they are flying around, but something tells me this is different. I just held the button down on my camera and took 67 photos in this series. Here are the best 34. Again, the photos are taken from a long ways off.
All of the sudden the juvie in the rear begins to dive under the other juvie.
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When he moves up is when you first see the juvie on top has a scrap of meat in his talons.
Unsuccessful at grabbing the meal with his beak, he flips over upside down and they lock talons.
The tug-of-war over lunch is on! Around and around they go while falling faster and faster.
Finally they separate. If I zoom out you can see they were just at the tree tops, another 150’ and they would have hit the ice.
I know eagles don’t clap, but I’d like to think the peanut gallery enjoyed the show.
When I zoom in you can see who came away with the snack.
The Park Ranger told me this is courtship behavior, but with these juvies it sure looked like it was about food. When I got home I Googled it and I see several articles saying eagles locking talons for courtship is a misconception and is more about inserting their dominance over another eagle. Either way it was exciting to see. Unfortunately I also read it’s not unheard of for them to crash into the ground while doing this, I’m glad I didn’t see that.