[crazyfingers]

I got this series of photos on the coast of in Maine, US last week. It looks to me that the bald eagle is drowning a gull.

I know that bald eagles usually feed on fish (frequently stolen from an Osprey) but I guess that bald eagles will do this.

[Nutcracker]

Nice bit of work - I guess the gull thought it'd be safe on the water . . . not so!!

[Kits]

Interesting set of photos and behaviour.

[Jeff hopkins]

I once saw a gull try to drown a merganser.

Ah, nature.

[crazyfingers]

Originally Posted by Jeff hopkins

I once saw a gull try to drown a merganser.

Ah, nature.

Gull going after a merganser?

The gull has no way to hold on to a speeding merganser.

[Jeff hopkins]

Originally Posted by crazyfingers

Gull going after a merganser?

The gull has no way to hold on to a speeding merganser.

It caught it just as it was surfacing after a dive and tried to force it back under.

I didn't say it was successful.

[etudiant]

The Cape May Bird Observatory had a resident GBB Gull that preyed on the local Coots, trapping them in the shallows and gradually pecking them top death. They called the bird 'Cooter' for obvious reasons.
So gulls and eagles have the understanding of what it takes to prey on diving birds. Eagles are usually more likely to go for ducks than the more agile gulls,
but I guess this gull just was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

[andyadcock]

And here a Canada Goose drowning a Tern just for the hell of it it seems.

http://digg.com/video/goose-kills-bird

[Barred Wobbler]

Gulls will drown anything given half a chance. Every year at the Strait of Gibraltar at migration times the local yellow-legged gulls will gang up on anything they get their eyes on; short-toed eagles, booted eagles, sparrowhawks, etc, etc, etc and try to drive them into the water. A couple of years ago I watched a black stork coming in and being harrassed all the way until it reached the Spanish shore.

Last May we spotted this griffon vulture that had been driven into the sea just short of landfall. When we spotted it, it was flapping weakly in the sea, but luckily for it the outcrop of rock in the photo was only about 50 metres away from it and it managed to reach it and scramble out of the water. It stood on he rock, wings spread for about 45 minutes, constantly harrassed by gulls, until it dried out enough to fly the last couple of hundred metres to land, passing low over my head before flopping exhausted onto the hillside where it rested for another hour.

Only a few minutes before we spotted it we'd been watching another griffon which wasn't so lucky. It was flapping in the water about a quarter of a mile offshore and without a handy outcrop to assist it, it drowned.

[rollingthunder]

A few years ago whilst birdng some local pools i spotted a dog walker throwing a stick for his little Jack Russell. The walker threw it repeatedly near a pair of Mute Swans with 4 young. On the last throwing of the stick the dog disregarded it and instead paddled towards the Cygnets. At this the male Swan fluffed itself up and repeatedly hissed at the animal. Undeterred it carried on after the Cygnets - the adult Swan calmy approached the dog head-on craned its neck over the now apprehensive little mutt reached down grabbing its nape and pushed it below the water whilst swimming slowly backwards.....

Within a minute the poor creature was dead - a salutory lesson to all irresponsible dog-owners.

Laurie -

[etudiant]

Originally Posted by rollingthunder

A few years ago whilst birdng some local pools i spotted a dog walker throwing a stick for his little Jack Russell. The walker threw it repeatedly near a pair of Mute Swans with 4 young. On the last throwing of the stick the dog disregarded it and instead paddled towards the Cygnets. At this the male Swan fluffed itself up and repeatedly hissed at the animal. Undeterred it carried on after the Cygnets - the adult Swan calmy approached the dog head-on craned its neck over the now apprehensive little mutt reached down grabbing its nape and pushed it below the water whilst swimming slowly backwards.....

Within a minute the poor creature was dead - a salutory lesson to all irresponsible dog-owners.

Laurie -

Wonder whether that is instinctive behavior, swimming predators are a common threat for water birds, but are at a real disadvantage if tackled in the water and swans have the size to make it matter.
Feel bad for the little Jack Russell, he was just doing what was natural, but it cost him his life.

[Nutcracker]

Mute Swan can drown a dog of pretty much any size, provided the water is deep enough for the dog to be swimming out of its depth. The swan is in its element, the dog isn't.

[corviknight]

Interesting photos.

[crazyfingers]

I think that the whole thread has become very interesting.

[gcole]

Originally Posted by rollingthunder

A few years ago whilst birdng some local pools i spotted a dog walker throwing a stick for his little Jack Russell. The walker threw it repeatedly near a pair of Mute Swans with 4 young. On the last throwing of the stick the dog disregarded it and instead paddled towards the Cygnets. At this the male Swan fluffed itself up and repeatedly hissed at the animal. Undeterred it carried on after the Cygnets - the adult Swan calmy approached the dog head-on craned its neck over the now apprehensive little mutt reached down grabbing its nape and pushed it below the water whilst swimming slowly backwards.....

Within a minute the poor creature was dead - a salutory lesson to all irresponsible dog-owners.

Laurie -

If that had been my dog and I had made such a foolish mistake , I would have been in the water lickysplit retrieving my dog and that Swan would have been in the wrong place pretty much dead ! . I love Swans but love dogs more..... gwen

[St. Elmo]

I know it's nature, but I'm with you Gwen.

[gcole]

Thanks for the support. I know nature can be cruel but if I had just stood and watched my loved animal be drowned and did nothing to try and prevent it, well that would be one memory I would not want to think about.

[STM]

Originally Posted by Nutcracker

Nice bit of work - I guess the gull thought it'd be safe on the water . . . not so!!

No bird is safe from a Baldie, in any environment especially if they are hungry! I watched one kill a Canadian Goose in mid flight, it was brutal! Wouldn't you know it, no camera!

[Outdoorlife602]

Very cool photos and what great timing to be there while it happened.

[snowyowl]

I suspect that anyone going into the water to tackle a Mute Swan might find that they had bitten off more than they could handle.

[viator]

Originally Posted by etudiant

Wonder whether that is instinctive behavior, swimming predators are a common threat for water birds, but are at a real disadvantage if tackled in the water and swans have the size to make it matter.
Feel bad for the little Jack Russell, he was just doing what was natural, but it cost him his life.

Why feel bad for the dog - it was attacking something and lost. The even bigger problem is the human letting the dog run free attacking wildlife.

[temmie]

On topic:

a Water Rail trying to drown a Kingfisher
https://mobile.twitter.com/robcadd/s...795187203?s=20

next, a Ross' gull at lake Washington (Seattle). A true vagrant and attracting a crowd of twitchers within hours after the first sighting, but being taken by a Bald Eagle:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rjm284/49155659903/

[Nutcracker]

Originally Posted by STM

No bird is safe from a Baldie, in any environment especially if they are hungry!

Pretty sure an Ostrich would be safe, not least for being 5,000 km from the nearest Bald Eagle

But I can't really see a Bald Eagle successfully taking say, a Winter Wren, in any environment (caves and dense undergrowth included!), either

[dantheman]

Originally Posted by Nutcracker

But I can't really see a Bald Eagle successfully taking say, a Winter Wren, in any environment (caves and dense undergrowth included!), either

You've reminded me of this tale ...

http://littlebrownwren.com/2015/11/2...-of-the-birds/

[Nutcracker]

Originally Posted by dantheman

You've reminded me of this tale ...

http://littlebrownwren.com/2015/11/2...-of-the-birds/

Nice article, but it's got it wrong - the actual bird in the legend is of course Goldcrest (once named "Golden-crested Wren" in English; and Danish name Fuglekonge, 'Bird-king'). And it has the gold crown to prove its entitlement