What’s the old saying? A bird in hand is worth two eagles with their talons locked together in the bush?
I know it’s something like that, but instead of getting stuck in the weeds of that conversation, let’s instead get to this video of two bald eagles stuck in a tree. To be clear, eagles typically prefer to avoid confrontation – especially with its own species. And when it comes to hunting, they ideally like to catch their victims by surprise, often using their great vision (hence the phrases “eagle-eyed”) to spot “potential dinner” from afar and swoop down to grab the prey before they even know what hits them.
When baldies aren’t locked in battle with one another like in this wild video below, they are usually trying to pick on things a little bit smaller than their size. Bald eagles weigh anywhere between six and fifteen pounds (with females actually weighing more than males) and have a wingspan ranging from six to eight feet.
So that’s why you often see videos of bald eagles trying to scoop up yappy dogs, fishing for carp that they can barely get out of the water, or gruesomely stealing away someone’s house cat. The predatory birds tend to avoid skirmishes, but sometimes fights are unavoidable.
Most of the time, the bald eagles clash with one another to establish dominance. They’ll use their talons to grapple and scratch the other large bird in mid air, and when the battle between two eagles gets to ground level (or tree level) like this one , they’re both just trying to outlast each other.
Bald eagles usually don’t suffer any serious injuries when they fight like this… but this situation might be the exception. Neither bird in the clip below looks comfortable, with one dangling upside down from a branch, and the other appearing to be somewhat entangled in the tree.
These bald eagle fights are commonly entered into only to make the other eagle retreat, or at the very least intimidate their opponent so they “don’t come around these parts” anymore. These altercations almost never end in the death of one of the birds, but in rare cases, neither bald eagle will back down and the duel only ends in death.
However, most bald eagles know when it’s time to retreat.
From how the caption of the post explains it, the two battling bald eagles had been in this position for only a matter of minutes… and it looked as though they were locked in a stalemate:
“One of the craziest things I’ve seen while out hiking. Went by this spot not even ten minutes earlier and they weren’t here. Turned around and headed back and ran into these two eagles with their talons locked stuck in a tree. Wasn’t sure if I should try to help them or not. They eventually got free, fortunately, and flew off.”
Good to hear that both baldies ended up being okay.
There’s also an outside chance that this was a mating ritual that went wrong. They are sometimes known to enter into something called a “courtship cartwheel.” That usually entails two bald eagles flying high into the sky, locking their talons together and then free-falling at a high speed as the pair spin around in circles. Seems complicated right? Well it’s just a part of nature, and it’s possible that’s what these two were doing before they ended up stuck in the tree like this.
Check it out:
