Bald eagles are known for being exceptional flyers… and this one in particular is letting the world know that they aren’t too shabby at swimming either.
In case you didn’t know, there’s not much that our nation’s bird won’t go after. The predatory birds are very opportunistic and will hunt anything that it feels as though it could haul off. That usually means that bald eagles prey on smaller mammals (like squirrels) and transportable fish. Much like we humans can sometimes have eyes bigger than our stomach, even the majestic bald eagle can occasionally bite off more than they can chew, so to speak.
Typically, a bald eagle’s menu consists of both big and small items. They’ll go for things as tiny as little yappy dogs, and in the right conditions, they’ll try to tackle something as big as a deer. Rarely ever do the eagle-eyed birds of prey have trouble hunting something down… it’s just picking that something up that can complicate things.
It’s believed that bald eagles can lift prey as heavy as three to four pounds with no problem at all. When their future meals get heavier than that, the iconic bird can run into issues. One thing that bald eagles can utilize to pick heavier things up is momentum. Swooping down out of the air at a high speed and lifting right back up into the sky sometimes allows for bald eagles to have more in tow.
However, they can’t always do that when they need to secure their catch – like the bald eagle in this video that decided to snatch up a rather large fish. As you’ll see, the large bird overestimated its ability to get the creature out of the water once it used its razor-sharp talons to secure it. That being said, it had the fish locked into the death grip of its talons, and set its eyes on the nearby shoreline.
Jeremy Geatches was in the right place at the right time, and got the whole thing on camera. He admits that he thought the bird was injured at first. After all, you don’t see a bald eagle doing its best 100-meter swim every day. But he quickly realized that the bald eagle wasn’t hurt… it was actually doing quite well. So well, in fact, that it was about to have a fresh, seafood dinner as long as it could hold on to the fish in its talons and make it to the shore.
After a lot of effort, and a tremendous display of the butterfly swimming technique, the baldie reached the promise land with its dinner. Though it wasn’t an easy endeavor, by any means, the bald eagle dug deep and utilized the strength of its wings to paddle its way through and eventually out of the water.
Then dinner was served:
“A bald eagle was swimming, and I thought it was hurt, but he caught a fish too big to be able to fly with, so he just swam it home.”
