That’s quite a story you have there. I felt like I was right there as you described it. My little dog would’ve hit the deck too. That was one brazen eagle! It also reminds me of how brazen coyotes are in their attempts to snatch dogs from their owners, even when on a leash! That has happened in my area a couple of times and my neighbor was recently stalked by a coyote while walking her little dog.
You always read stuff like “eagles have a wingspan of about 7 feet”.
That doesn’t really sink in until they’re right over your head.
They are really -really- big birds.
Many years ago I was on my way to the mall and cars were stopped along the edge of a pasture and everybody was watching something going on in it.
Naturally, I stopped too.
Way off in the distance, there were 2 Golden Eagles on the ground, fighting.
Even from as far away as I was [about a hundred yards] they looked *big*.
Flash forward 20 years and I was riding my ATV up in the woods and a Bald Eagle came zooming down overhead from seemingly nowhere and I instinctively flattened out over the ATV’s tank when the shadow passed by.
[I’d have made a good chicken]...LOL
The PPM is a rescue and had been abused and she will ‘flatten out’ if she thinks she’s in trouble.
I never thought I’d be oddly “glad” somebody had beaten a dog but her past saved her life.
Ordinarily, she’s the little Velociraptor who has *way* more heart than brains.
[she ‘beats up’ my 100 lb Dobe and she’s not even 1/4 his size]
Coyotes *were* a problem here a few years back.
A pack of them backed my dad down a rocky, unstable ridge but he didn’t dare turn his back on them.
They *were* coming for him.
It was the first [and last] time he’d ever stepped into the woods without a rifle.
As soon as he got to his truck and slid the rifle out, they scattered.
It’s not good to have “Coyotes” [ha...they’re eastern wolves] be that bold, big and -smart-.
The DNR stopped protecting them after too many newborn livestock were killed by them and declared open season.
Don’t really hear from them much, anymore.
The only thing I can figure about the eagle was that the lousy chicken hawks had killed ~so~ many rabbits and squirrels after they became “protected” that it was desperate.
[I’d hate to think *all* of them are that gutsy]