Eagles are some of the best hunters on the planet. When it’s time for brunch, they don’t play around. From up above they strike at the speed of light and seldom do they miss their target.
EAGLE ATTACKS PHOTOGRAPHER
A Vancouver Island photographer was left with some cuts and scratches after a pair of eagles took a nosedive straight into her lap this week.
Lisa Bell told CTV News she was visiting her friend just north of Qualicum Beach on Friday afternoon when she decided to snap some pictures in the yard.
But as she focused her lens on two bald eagles she said was engaged in a mating ritual, the birds suddenly came crashing down to earth. “It only took a split-second,” Bell said. “The eagles entwined and proceed to fall – and fall on me.” When eagles are courting, they sometimes perform an act known as “cartwheeling,” where they lock talons and plummet towards the ground before separating at the last minute.
In this case, Bell said the birds of prey didn’t quite manage to pull off the maneuver. “It’s about trust,” she said. “They’re supposed to let go of each other in time before hitting the ground.
In this case, they let go, but not in time.” The eagles launched off moments after landing in her lap, and their sharp claws left her with a number of small injuries, including a cut on her finger, two puncture wounds on her jaw, and scratches on her arm and chest.
But Bell also managed to capture an incredible picture of the birds mid-flight, and for a nature lover like herself, it was more than worth it. “I’ve got war wounds now. I’ve got stories to tell my grandchildren,” she said. “It was phenomenal.”
EAGLE ATTACKS WOLF
As many of us are forced to work from home or are unable to work at all, more and more people are scouring the internet looking for distractions.
These photos, shared on social media, show an adult bald-headed eagle and a wolf battling it out over carrion scraps left on the ground.
You might think the wolf would have the advantage, at least on the ground but that does not appear to be the case. A full-grown eagle’s wingspan can exceed seven feet and its talons can grow larger than a man’s hand.
Typically, wolves grow to between three and five feet and adult eagles learn to disable larger prey with a powerful strike directed at the back of the skull of larger mammals such as wolves, deer, and mountain goats.
These images also show the eagle forcing the wolf to retreat and give up on the carrion meal, but we don’t know what happened after the camera stopped recording.
