Nature's a b****

[slonezp]

Just a short story I thought was neat. Was smallmouth fishing up north yesterday evening with my son and we saw a bunch of seagulls hovering and picking at the water. It was windy blowing 25+ so we couldn't tell if bait was surfacing or something else. This went on for a good half hour. We got close enough I started throwing a crank bait over where they were but got nothing. Next thing you know a bald eagle swoops down and grabs a big fish out of the water where the gulls were at. Presumably, the fish was dead and was too large for the gulls to pick up. Chaos ensues. There was a dozen gulls attacking the bald eagle. The eagle flew back and forth between land and water trying to shag the gulls but they were relentless. After about 15 minutes or so the eagle goes to land in a tree and drops the fish and it falls in someone's yard who just happened to be outside. A young kid and his mom. I know they heard the fish fall from the sky thru the branches because they went towards the tree that the eagle tried to land in. The gulls kept screwing with the eagle until they realized the fish was gone, then they went back to minding their own business. We trolled down the bank a little further and now the eagle was back being chased by 2 small black birds, not sure what he did to tick them off. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the eagle even though he was the instigator.
Something else we thought was neat was how the eagle just glided thru the air during the time he was not being attacked. The seagulls were struggling and constantly flapping their wings while the eagle just seemed to glide using very little energy. He was using the wind to his advantage rather than fighting against it like the gulls. Not sure if it was just due to the sheer size of the eagle or he was working smart and not hard. Guess I'm just so used to seeing gulls geese and cormorants(I hate cormorants) that seeing such a majestic bird is a breath of fresh air.

[Evan K]

Neat story! Funny how small birds always hate big ones. I've seen all manner of large birds being harassed.

[lecisnith]

The small birds are typically harassing the larger predator-type birds away from their nests.  Last time I was out I saw a hawk carry off a baby red-winged blackbird after a failed misdirection attempt.  More often than not, though, the small birds are successful.  At least in my observations.

[Last_Cast]

The eagle was being nice..

[buzzed bait]

man i was waiting for the part where the eagle swooped in and snagged the kid....

[K_Mac]

Have you seen the video where a hawk attempts to take an eaglet from its nest? One of the parents landed on the hawk quick as a bullet, and calmly started feeding the babies hawk tartare. Messing with an apex predator is a risky business. 

Slone, gulls are nasty little creatures . I hope the eagle had a couple to replace the lost fish.

[Oregon Native]

Awesome...love watching nature.  Thanks for sharing.  Feel it's a good day when I see one of those large birds flying by.  

[Jrob78]

The opportunity to observe wildlife is one of my favorite fringe benefits of fishing.

[smallies24/7]

Where I fish, I am lucky enough to see 5-10 bald eagles per trip. They sure are an impressive creature. 

[Steveo-1969]

This past weekend while I was fishing I watched two mature bald eagles harassing an osprey.  It looked like they were trying to get the osprey out of their fishing area. That accomplished the eagles split up and one of them started getting harassed by a pair of blackbirds.  Karma is a b*tch...

[Redlinerobert]

[Sam]

What gets my goat is when you are trying so hard for one bite and an osprey or eagle flies over the boat holding a big bass in its talons.

All you can do is understand that Mother Nature is a better fisherman than all of us.

[Gundog]

https://youtu.be/YucYoklZAyE

The pelican was the lookout.