Dennis Forsyth writes:
Hi Folks; A bit of excitement at noon hour today. One of a pair of hunting eagles dropped into the water and latched onto a fish. We’ve seen this happen before, but this one was a lot more spectacular. The eagle could not get the fish up while it was in the water, so it rowed itself ashore with its wings. That’s when I realized that it had an astonishingly big fish. In fact a good sized dogfish, or, more properly, a Squalus suckleyi. I’m guessing that the fish was at least half as heavy as the eagle, if not more. Once ashore the eagle attempted to get its catch to a better place by taking it along the beach in short flights. Then it made a serious tactical error and tried to turn around by going out over the water instead of in over the beach. The fish, still very much alive, proved too heavy and too active and the eagle was forced to drop it back into the water. Although the bird cruised up and down for another five minutes it did not recover its dinner. Dennis
Comments:
Joan: Great pictures, I have seen them row in like that but not with a fish, usually after a failed catch.
Val: Wow, Dennis your photos are marvellous!
Bridget: Great shots, Dennis. Mikell, Roberta, Dennis S. and I saw this very phenomena a year ago up in the Broughton Islands area while cruising with Mothership Adventures. Our eagle, who looked to be doing the butterfly stroke, did make it to shore with his fish, jumped over several logs and then had dinner. It was a most amazing sight of strength and will power.
Helen: Thanks for sharing such a great account. The pictures are amazing.
