As I was rolling past a local farm, I saw a white head pop up over freshly plowed ground. It was a big bird, and the only birds with white heads that size around here are Bald Eagles.
But... this bird looked ROUGH.
I turned around and parked on the shoulder. It was an eagle, but it looked like it had gone three rounds with Muhammed Ali.
Big body and smaller beak — a female.
She was clearly feeding on something.
I took out the camera and quietly, and slowly, exited the truck, but it was too much movement.
The eagle hopped once or twice and then tried to lift off with an enormous piece of flayed meat. She got about 20 feet in the air with it and then dropped it before flying off to a group of trees in the middle of the field.
She was a big eagle — ruffled up to stay warm, but also more than a little beat up.
I took a few bad pictures and then walked into the field to see what she’d been eating.
Can you tell what it was?
Considering how beat up the eagle was — and the fact that the blood along the backbone was not yet black — I think this was a live catch.
9 comments:
Took me a bit, but judging from what I can see of a couple of paws... a domestic cat? Who put up quite a fight.
For being billed as an apex predator with few natural enemies, your eagle's chosen quarry species sure does succumb to quite a few raptors and large dog attacks.
When the city was building a new road and reworking a rather large interchange, they had to relocate a bald eagle nest and wait for the time to do it in a proper manner. Apparently, there were reports of several small collars in the nest. Nature is indeed red in tooth and claw.
Looks like Kitty put up a fight.
Tough to tell from a photo but it looks like a house cat.
Meow?
House cat?
Sadly, a cat scratch can kill a raptor in a matter of days. I know a falconer whose cat scratched her hawk; she couldn't even see the scratch. Her bird was sick in less than a day. The vet amputated the wing tip. In less then a day the toxoplasmosis had spread and the falconer opted to amputate up to the 'elbow' and put the bird in a breeding project. Sadly, the infection spread and the bird was euthanized. This all happened in about 3-4 days.
Most falconers call their bird off if she chases a feral cat; it is just too risky.
It's not toxoplasmosis. It is the bacteria Bartonella henselee, it will kill small wildlife and birds within days without treatment. The eagle may have 'won the battle, but loss the war' due to the likely injuries and subsequent infection from the cat it caught' . Falconers keep away from cats when out in the field. And unfortunately, small game such as quail, rabbits and pheasants are practically gone, due to the proliferation of the 'no kill movement' with community cats and TNR colonies near human habitation. Many falconers have told me they find no rabbits nor quail, but find cats instead.
Thank you, Kitty, I knew it was something!
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