6 replies to this topic

[shixingwen]

Got a fish?

http://white-clouds....Cormorant-7.jpg

[Benjamin DeHaven]

That is one of the things that has surprised me the most since I started actually really paying attention to birds: just how big of a thing they can jam down their throats. Another is how mean birds are to one another, even within the same species. I am thinking of Bald Eagles in particular here...

Benjamin

[shixingwen]

That is one of the things that has surprised me the most since I started actually really paying attention to birds: just how big of a thing they can jam down their throats. Another is how mean birds are to one another, even within the same species. I am thinking of Bald Eagles in particular here...

Benjamin

Indeed, it is amazing that they can swallow fish apparently wider than their mouth. But I've never seen a Bald Eagle eating its own kind.

[BarnSwallow]

I think he means how they will steal food from each other. Wild animals aren't mean, nor are they kind. They just are. They are operating how nature intended. It's worked for millenia for them, so they will continue to operate that way. Just enjoy watching how different species interact with each other - it isn't always easy to watch, but it's always interesting!

[Benjamin DeHaven]

You are correct on both fronts. Nature is what it is and we easily attach human emotions, morals, and logic to situations where it is useless and I am quite guilty of this. It just always makes me shake my head when an eagle pulls a big fish out of a river and immediately two eagles are on him and they fly and swoop and dive and inevitably the fish gets dropped on the ground. And then none of the eagles goes down and picks it up, all three just fly away. For a while at Conowingo Dam on the Susquehanna River in Maryland there was at least one stray cat that was often seen roaming around. The birders would joke that that one was for the kitty.

Benjamin

[BarnSwallow]

We have pics we took at Conowingo years ago with our 1000mm lens/scope. Several imm. eagles were standing on the rocks, arguing over a fish. While they were arguing, the fish flop, flop, flopped right back into the river!

[shixingwen]

We have pics we took at Conowingo years ago with our 1000mm lens/scope. Several imm. eagles were standing on the rocks, arguing over a fish. While they were arguing, the fish flop, flop, flopped right back into the river!

That's interesting and funny