Out in the wild, you have to keep your head on a swivel, because you never know where you are going to get attacked from next.
As a grizzly bear, you would think that you would be pretty safe to walk around and not worry about much. There aren’t many living things higher up on the food chain that would choose to pick a fight with one of nature’s most powerful beasts, but that didn’t stop this bald eagle from launching an attack by the Naknek River in Alaska.
This video from back in 2010 first starts out as footage that a fisherman is getting of a bear walking along the banks of the river that he is fishing on. You can hear the boat engine revving up in the background to keep the vessel somewhat stationery against the current of the water as the man captures the grizzly bear that is walking close by.
After traveling by the water for the moment, the big bear starts to head up the steep hill directly adjacent to the river, and it appears to be quite the trek for the grizzly. Bears are commonly known for having great stamina, but it looks like this incline is giving this grizzly all it can handle as it fights to continue going (I feel the same way on the treadmill sometimes).
The bear gets past some dense shrubbery and is probably just a touch over halfway up the hill when it decides that it needs to take a break. Right when the bear slows down and comes to a stop, the man filming the whole thing gives some commentary to go along with the footage, and accidentally captures the moment of the bald eagle attack on camera:
“I’m fishing, videoing a bear, and driving the boat, all at the same time. Woah, did you see that?”
As the man zoomed in on the bear as it rested for a second, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment as the bald eagle swoops down and grasps the bear’s face with its sharp talons. It happens so fast that the video ends up showing it again in slow motion, which allows for viewers to more clearly see the aerial attack.
In the slowed down version, the bald eagle looks to have its beak wide open as it makes contact with the bear’s snout, making me think that it did this “on a dare” and was possibly scared to do it. Forgive me for saying this, but it’s a pretty “punk-rock” moment.
I’m not sure what the eagle was thinking, but if it thought it was going to fly off with the grizzly in its talons, I’d have to say that the bird’s eyes were “bigger than its stomach.”
After the bald eagle flies off, the grizzly bear shakes off the attack and continues on its merry way, probably wondering what the hell had just happened. I’m sure it kept an eye on the sky more often after this incident.
Check it out:
