Eagle snatches fox holding rabbit in mouth in dramatic images

FoxNews.com/Science ^ | May 22, 2018 | Katherine Lam

[ETL]

Videos and photos captured a bald eagle attempting to snatch a rabbit from a young red fox as they battled it out 20 feet in the air in what a photographer called a “dramatic act of thievery.”

[snarkytart]

Don’t mess with FREEDOM!

[snarkytart]

Once an bald eagle sinks those meat hooks called talons into the rabbit, it probable died within a couple of minutes.

[Fresh Wind]

Well, the choice of a national bird came down to the Bald Eagle or the Wild Turkey.

Both bad choices. Both are violent aggressive birds. They should have chosen the peaceful pigeon, especially since pavement pooping is now acceptable. /s

[wardaddy]

That split tail on that trout in the talons of that Osprey is indicative it was harvested by that Osprey from a tank farming operation

That eagle is immature no?

The coloring.

[wardaddy]

Lol

[ETL]

[piasa]

Talk about whiplash...

My uncle went into China during the Korean War but he never elaborated on it or what they did it or even if they were successful at getting people out or not... he didn’t get caught is all we know, or he wouldn’t have come back. He never bragged about anything except his cooking. He was Jewish, not real big, and his Dad had disowned him for marrying my Aunt because she was not Jewish, so there was always a little sadness with him over that loss...but my Grandfather treated him like a first born son, and taught the city boy how to fish and rabbit hunt, and they had a long and happy marriage.

[piasa]

That’s just a chiropractor’s dream, there... but that’s it.

[piasa]

I think that’s a shad, not a trout... it has a long anal fin, trout don’t.

[rustbucket]

There are no trout farms I know of in central Florida. I doubt if the fish is a trout. paisa may be right about what kind of fish it is.

The eagle is a juvenile that appears to have what is called Basic I plumage. It takes five years for bald eagles to get the all white head.

The osprey kept getting way ahead of the eagle, but the eagle would catch up. Then the osprey would dart and turn and leave the lumbering eagle behind again.

[Vaden]

Ben Franklin was wrong about the Eagle. Many people held incorrect assumptions about the Eagle due to their confusion about it’s habits and ways, particularly it’s hunting habits. We now have learned much more and those old assumptions have been proven wrong. It’s time to stop repeating those wrong assumptions.

The Eagle is a great national symbol.

[wardaddy]

That’s the tail fin not the anal fin you’re pointing out and the reason I said ii thought it was a farm raised trout was because the tail fin is split

Farm raised trout often do that...split tail fin.....that extended tail fin ....I wonder if it’s salt water or brackish

Wild trout do not have split tail

I’m from Miss/Louisiana and it doesn’t look like our shad but the tail is shad like

There are indeed trout farms in central Florida....this pic is from Polk county area but I agree it’s likely not any kind of trout....the tail fin is too extended anyhow

I’m sending it to a buddy of mine in Naples to get his opinion.

He’s fished for fifty five years in Florida.....it’s got me wondering

The speckled nature and the split tail fin being tells....maybe a type of catfish?...pelvic fin with dropped pectoral fin .....

blam do you fish?

[blam]

"blam do you fish? "

Very little.

[Does so]

The choice wasn't unanimous, as you can see by Ben Franklin's letter—quoted below by the Smithsonian Museum.

Just as this Bald Eagle stole the fox's successful dinner-catch, Bald Eagles are infamous for chasing down an Osprey that'd caught a fish and bullying it for release—always with success—I've seen it myself.

Franklin's reference to the Kingbird also rings true. The little Kingbird is fearless. The letter:

“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

With all this injustice, he is never in good case but like those among men who live by sharping & robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our country…"

“I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America… He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

—Ben Franklin

[Does so]

And then, horrifically, a Northern Pike attacked and swallowed it whole.”

There's a YouTube from Japan showing a Pike snatching a kitten from a slightly raised shoreline.

[rustbucket]

Circle B Bar Reserve is where I took the photo of the eagle chasing the osprey with a fish over Lake Hancock. From what I've observed, most of the osprey at Circle B catch their fish in Lake Hancock, a very large freshwater lake that borders Circle B. If you walk along the shore of Lake Hancock in Circle B, you will often see many osprey eating fish in the trees close to the lake.

From Wikipedia:

"At 4,573 acres (18.51 km2), the lake is one of the largest lakes in Polk County, Florida"

"Although many lakes in Polk County are utilized by sports fishermen, Lake Hancock has not been used for recreational fishing in decades. The dominant fish in the lake are blue tilapia and threadfin shad, and suckermouth catfish."

Here is a link to pictures of threadfin shad: Threadfin Shad

[ETL]

According to this, the eagle did NOT take the rabbit. The fox somehow hung on to it.

[rustbucket]

From what I've seen on the Internet, the maximum size of threadfin shad is about nine inches. The fish the osprey has is bigger than that. However, there is another similar looking but larger shad that lives in large lakes in Florida, the gizzard shad. The gizzard shad grows to about 20 inches in length.

Here is a link to gizzard shad: gizzard shad

[rustbucket]

Here is a photo from that same trip of mine of an osprey flying in from Lake Hancock with a fish. I was lucky to get the shot. I was standing on a small dock out into Lake Hancock. The osprey suddenly appeared flying full speed from the lake headed into the woods. I turned and got the picture as it went past not far from me.

[wardaddy]

I think Gizzard Shad looks like that’s it

Great work

Do you use a pretty fancy works to capture that sort of photo?

Truly fascinating