Bald Eagle tragedy (1 Viewer)

I went down to the local marina when my dad was over last week to do a bit of birding. On the way we came across an adult bald eagle hanging by it's neck forty feet up a tree.

I reported it to the local natural resources office and they told me that it apparently died after being tormented by a group of crow.

I always wondered where the collective noun for a "murder of crow" came from. Now I know first hand.

Sad but true.

Hi Glyn,

Very sad to hear :-C

Welcome to BirdForum, too!

Michael

That must have been most distressing to come across Glyn. Not sure how well I would have handled that myself. I know it is all part of nature, but when you think about what the Eagle went through, it does make one sad.

BTW, A very warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at Bird Forum.

KCFoggin said:

That must have been most distressing to come across Glyn. Not sure how well I would have handled that myself. I know it is all part of nature, but when you think about what the Eagle went through, it does make one sad.

BTW, A very warm welcome to you from the entire staff here at Bird Forum.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the welcome.

I handled it OK myself as I was busy calming down my furious teenage daughters. They were asking me to go home and get my shotgun (also part of nature, here in the boonies in Canada) and blast away at any crow I saw. I had to explain to them the whole idea of "two wrongs, etc" and "innocent until proven guilty" as well as the fact that crow are protected around here.

Anyway, one horrific death was enough for one day.

To add the ying to the eagles yang, the Osprey are back and nesting locally. There are at least three pairs of nesting birds about thirty miles away and they are having a ball. We have a few more pairs of nesting bald eagles locally as well, so the balance is still there.

When I get my act together I'll upload some pictures of the Osprey that my wife took through my dad's scope. It isn't pro quality as it was handheld, but not bad anyway.

canadian eagle

Interesting ying to the eagle tale with the osprey.I have a local bald eagle pair whose territory is visited by an osprey.Recently I saw the osprey run the eagle out after a furious game of sky tag.I have heard reports of the same eagles being run off by redtailed hawks working in pairs.Sorry of the loss your area has suffered.
Sam

:storm:
I ran across a similar situation when I found a dead snowy egret hanging from a piece of fishing line tangled around its foot and a tree limb. I concluded the poor bird died of thirst with pond just a few feet from its head.