Eagles at work and play

Recently I was walking along Juanita Bay. There are always so many birds here: mallards, grebes, widgeons, wood ducks, geese, swans, seagulls, crows, blue herons, cormorants...and others I can't identify.

Blue heron, mallards and trumpeter swans in Juanita Bay. Photo by Helen B.

Always a delight for my eyes. For Finn's eyes, too. If he could, he'd jump into the lake and swim after every water fowl in range. I don't let him.

Trumpeter swans. Photo by Helen B.

This time of year, eagles add to the mix. They perch high in the tall cottonwoods and evergreens surrounding the bay.

As Finn and I were passing on the boardwalk, here's the scene I was privileged to observe:

A bald eagle - head and tail feathers bright white against his dark brown wing and body feathers - swoops over the lake, dive bombing a group of grebes. That seems unusual, so I stop to watch. Then I see that two bald eagles are working together. The first one leaves a treetop and flies low to circle over the group of grebes, almost like a vulture. After a couple circles it dives down to 2-3 feet above them as if attacking, then flies up and away toward a nearby tree top. The other eagle, waiting patiently on one of the pilings in the bay (where the heron is perched in the first photo), then leaves its perch and flies low over the same group of grebes, returning to his perch without seeming to attack. The grebes act like sheep, moving into a tight huddle on the water's surface for protection. They paddle and move as a group, almost like a school of fish. This circling and diving by the first eagle, immediately followed by a low fly-over by the second one, happens four times, like a very well-rehearsed and intricate dance. I can't figure out what's going on, so I decide to watch until it makes sense. 

After the first couple of patterns, the grebes paddle slowly away as a group, toward a nearby public dock. But the first eagle keeps circling over the original spot. Now I'm really confused; I wish I had binoculars. Then I notice that each time the first eagle dives, there's a splash where the dive is targeted, almost like a fish is jumping. But that can't be - the eagle can't anticipate a fish's jump. Then I get it: the eagle is diving toward a single grebe - or some other small water fowl; it's too far away for me to see clearly - that is diving under the surface for safety every time the eagle circles and dives from overhead.

I begin to understand what the two eagles are doing: the first eagle's diving is wearing out the smaller bird which the eagles have figured out is vulnerable for some reason. The initially protective group of grebes have abandoned it.

The first eagle does another circling and dive routine. I watch the target grebe splash under the surface right as the eagle dives. The first eagle climbs and flies away while the second eagle leaves its perch and flies low over the water. Just as the smaller bird surfaces - exhausted, I'm sure - the second eagle grabs it in its talons. It doesn't take off with its prize; maybe the grebe is too heavy. The victorious eagle simply floats on the lake surface, enjoying its meal.

The first eagle? It flies back to the cottonwoods along the shore, where a third, juvenile bald eagle I hadn't noticed is perched. The first eagle lands near the young one (it doesn't have the white head and tail feathers of the other two adult eagles). Was this a lesson in hunting for the juvenile eagle, a master class in teamwork and cooperation? Almost immediately, the young eagle takes off, gliding out over the lake, the first eagle in close pursuit. Will they demand a share of the meal from the second eagle?

Flying high above the second eagle - still on the water's surface, munching it's meal - the young eagle and first eagle do a victory/mating dance, that thing they do midair where one goes upside down while the other swoops in and connects with talons. Recovering from a quick tumble together, they fly off to the other side of the bay, landing near each other in tall trees.

For a video of the aerial mating ritual of eagles, click  here

Amazingly, Finn sits quietly by my side as I watch the scene play out. We're there, standing still, at least ten minutes. There are lots of mallards and other ducks nearby, which Finn would normally be straining to reach. Finn seems to understand my need to concentrate and quietly observe. He was similarly cooperative a year ago when he and I watched - up close, just feet away - as a bald eagle swooped down to steal a road kill squirrel from a murder of crows.