Bald Eagles might be one of the most fascinating predators you can see in the wild.
Soaring high above everything, the powerful symbol of strength and freedom for entire country, I mean… it’s as majestic as a bird can be.
If you’ve ever been lucky enough to witness one hunting, you understand. They soar or perch high above, using incredible eye-sight, they swoop in and grab anything that is their target.
They have a very large wingspan, up to 7.5 feet, and can weigh in the neighborhood of 14 pounds. While diving for food they can reach a top speed near 100 miles per hour and build the largest tree nests of any animal on the planet, weighing up to a half a ton.
While they mainly eat fish, they aren’t afraid to go after other birds, mammals, and a huge variety of other species. In fact, only the red-tailed hawk is known to have a wider diet range than bald eagles, which clocks in around 400 individual species known to be consumed.
Their precision is simply amazing.
Bald eagles love hanging around waterbodies, their eyes (which see 8x better than humans) allow them to spot out prey up to two miles away. This helps them spot out fish in the water a long way off so they can come in and get a quick meal from above.
One of the only things that does not disappoint you when they out fish you, that’s for sure.
This video from Hayward, Wisconsin, shows something that I have heard stories of, but never have witnessed. A bald eagle gets a catch out of the water that is too big and fighting too much for it to take back off. Using it’s wings it beats its way through the water towards shore.
“Look at that big a– fish”
The eagle pulls up what looks like a large carp, and it’s easy to see why it struggled to fly and had to swim to shore. It was a large enough to feed more than this one eagle.
Hats off to the people who caught this on video, a once in a lifetime experience no doubt.
Here’s more the from the folks behind the camera:
“We were staying in a cabin in Hayward Wisconsin on the Chippewa Flowage. We were sitting in the living room with a view of the lake and noticed an eagle swimming towards our beach.
At first, I thought it was hurt but then it swam to shore with a 20-ound carp in its talons.
It sat on the shore and ate the fish for a couple of hours and then came back in the morning and finished eating the Carp.
It was truly an amazing sight to see! I’m glad I was to capture it on film for others to enjoy.”
It never ceases to amaze the things wildlife do.
