Can a Eagle lift an Eider?

Steve Sanford

Steve Sanford

Well-known member
Good morning, All~


This photo was taken on Long Island recently. Rich Geminski passed it along to me.


View attachment Eagle and Eider at Ponquogue - January 2019.JPG




The young (3rd year?) Bald Eagle is spiriting away an Eider - most likely a Common. I'm thinking 1st winter drake - but the light is triky and it could be a hen. Note how the Eagle is wearing those yellow rubber gloves on his feet for winter work on the Bay......



Let's be careful out there!


SJS

 
neat shot. Imagine the last bit of your life you are getting lifted away by something bigger than you that sticks his talons into your head. YOWCH!
 
Dani said:
neat shot. Imagine the last bit of your life you are getting lifted away by something bigger than you that sticks his talons into your head. YOWCH!
Click to expand...

Just think of it as a ski lift with out the chair. [angelic]
 
Thats a cool shot. I've seen them take a coot out in the middle of a big creek and swim with one in it's talons to shore before.
 
Experienced the same thing earlier this week albeit with an eagle snatching a black duck. I wasn't quick enough with my camera though!
 
Scavenged cripple, or did the eagle take a live, unwounded duck? I've seen a peregrine take a flying teal, and a harrier drive a duck into the marsh and kill it, but never seen an eagle take an unwounded duck. I've lost quite a few cripples or long dead birds to them.


Imagine picking up something half--or maybe more than that-- of your weight and flying with it!
 
Jeff Reardon said:
Scavenged cripple, or did the eagle take a live, unwounded duck? I've seen a peregrine take a flying teal, and a harrier drive a duck into the marsh and kill it, but never seen an eagle take an unwounded duck. I've lost quite a few cripples or long dead birds to them.


Imagine picking up something half--or maybe more than that-- of your weight and flying with it!
Click to expand...

We've seen eagles pick off healthy mergansers and whistlers in the CT River late in the year when ice concentrates the birds. They move in close when the duck dives, then follow the bubble trail until they see the bird heading back up. They time it so the second the ducks head breaks the surface, POW!
 
Looking at the coloration, I might say that could be a hen whistler, scaup,, or something other than an eider. Check the speculum and area extending onto the primaries. Juvie eider at this time of year would be an aggregate of white and mottled black areas.[whistle]
 
Looks like an eider beak to me........

Once had an eagle try and get to a dead black duck before my dog. Was worried about the dog for a few moments. Sure didn't want those talons in my lab's head!

Matt
 
I knew that Steve would get to the bottom of the species. I tried to enhance the photo, and agreed with Cort . Cort is a hunter and world class carver.
Just a great photo, right place, right time.
 
Looking at the size of the legs, I tend to concur. Would really like to see the bill process, though. That is an Erne, as opposed to a bald?
Most of our Baldies down this way would rather hang out by chicken houses, waiting for dead to be tossed out, or check fields for dead deer.
Once saw one on frozen Garrison's Lake, south of Smyrna, de., standing over the corpse of a herring gull. Ours seem to be more adept at dealing with carrion.
 
Very cool photo!
Definitely a juvenile Bald Eagle. A very strong one at that!
 
Geoerge~


I was just joking about the "sea eagle" (aka Erne) - because it was over saltwater and less than a mile from the Atlantic Ocean. Bald Eagles began wintering regularly on LI 15 or so years ago - and there are now a few nests in the warmer months.


All the best,


SJS

 
I found this info about eagles. As you can read, a lot has to do with if the eagle is flying and snatching, or lifting off from land. Either scenario offers us a true blessing of being out in nature. Although I always prefer it isn't "my" duck he is snatching.

Bald eagles are strong, aggressive birds but like everything that flies they are governed by aerodynamics. The wings of an eagle need to support the eight to 12-pound bird as well as whatever the bird is carrying, and best estimates put the lifting power of an eagle at four or five pounds. But it?s not quite that simple. Lift is dependent not only on wing size, but on airspeed. The faster a bird (or plane) is flying, the greater the lift potential. An eagle that lands on the beach to grab a fish, and then takes off again, is limited to a smaller load than an eagle that swoops down at 20 or 30 miles an hour and snatches up a fish. That momentum and speed gives the bird the ability to carry more weight.
 
I was watching an Eagle on the Mississippi River one morning. He was out in the middle of the river, standing on a dead carcass that was slowly floating downstream. Every once in a while the Eagle would attempt to take off with what ever it was underneath him. Try as he might he just couldn't quite get going with his prize. One time he managed to get airborne but only a couple feet off the water. He traveled maybe 30 yards at best before he and his load settled back down onto the water. Finally gave up and flew away awhile later. Never did figure out just what it was he was attempting to lift. Possibly a dead beaver or small deer carcass.
 
Very cool shot.
Your expertise always amazes me Steve.

Concerning a comment about taste...I hunted Eider with Keith Mueller some time ago and we shot a bunch of Eider in Nantucket Sound.
When we got back to Keith's, he breasted some out and stir fried them. Best duck I've eaten and I always stir fry my ducks the same way.
That was a surprise, base upon what I had heard.
We were able to bring some several I stir fried those as well...great tasting.

Couple thoughts on ducks/etc.
As a biologist (my first love & calling along with teaching), as soon as you shoot a bird, lay it on it's back to bleed the blood from the breast.
Also...age your birds. Time for that is based upon temperature. All the meat you get in a store, has been aged. Nature's way of tenderizing meat.
Just a couple thoughts.
Lou
 
Good morning, Lou~


Good to hear from you - Happy 2019!


My only dining experience with Eider was when we gunned with Troy Fields in Maine a few years back - which was a superb experience all around.. We, too, enjoyed the Eider on the table. Good thinking about setting the birds on their backs!


All the best,


SJS

 
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