Avian drama

The other day, I heard a commotion by some birds up in the air. I looked out the window and saw some magpies harassing a red-tailed hawk. This is nothing unusual; birds of prey are often harassed by smaller birds – including passerines – whenever the predators get too close to nests. The red-tailed hawk landed on a tall pine tree down the valley and that, I thought, was that.

A few minutes later, I heard the magpies again. Thinking the red-tailed hawk must have left its perch, I glanced out ... but this time I saw the magpies were harassing a bald eagle. Even more interesting, the bald eagle had something good-sized in its talons, possibly a squirrel. It was at this point I grabbed my camera and went outside to watch.

Much of what took place was in the valley across from us, obscured by trees, so I wasn't able to capture the full drama of what followed, but essentially what happened is the bald eagle was then attacked ... by the red-tailed hawk! In the mêlée, the bald eagle dropped its prey and it landed on the valley floor.

The hawk flew off at this point, but the bald eagle landed on the ground, presumably on its prey. All I could see was its white head through the brush as it guarded its food.

But the eagle had no peace even here. The magpies were back, perching on various bushes nearby and screeching at the eagle. The eagle stayed on the ground a long time, maybe ten minutes, but it wasn't eating its prey. It was just standing there, enduring the abuse of the magpies.

Finally it gripped its food and took off. It took a long time to gain height, ascending in wide circles to climb into the sky. Sorry for the fuzziness of the photos (it's not easy focusing on a soaring bird), but you can see the prey dangling.

Avian drama. It's not easy being an apex predator.