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Monday, January 3, 2011

A Conflict Between Eagles

mrsroadrunner A Wildlife, Nature Photographer, Oregon

Our day yesterday was a lot of fun!

The weather was ok , the highs in the 40's the lows in the 20's. According to our trucks outside weather gauge.

It rained, it hailed and it snowed. So you can imagine blue skies were hard to find.

Wildlife was not hard to find, like most days. They still need to eat regardless of the weather.

We climbed down into the canyon to watch three bald eagles fish and do what they do. We climbed out back onto the road and seen a golden eagle in a tree. He took off as we watched him go further up into the canyon another pair of bald eagle came out of no where and started attacking the golden eagle in mid flight. It is said the Bald Eagle soars at 35–43 mph. We watched this and got in the truck to go where the action was. We seen the bald eagles attacking for a little bit when the golden eagle went up high, and started attacking the bald eagles one at a time!

I read where the Eurasian subspecies of the Golden Eagle has been used to hunt wolves! They are very revered in some cultures. The Golden eagle can weigh as much as fiteen pounds. Wild and domesticated cats have been a recorded food source for the Golden Eagle as well as full grown roe deer, and I read even mountain goats.

The golden eagles are the biggest eagles we have in North America, the Bald eagle being the second. The point is though, the Bald Eagle is second. If the Golden Eagle had a mate around I doubt the Bald Eagles would have attacked like they did.This Golden eagle I captured with the camera appears to me as if a young Golden Eagle.... Just the way it's feathers looked. Though I am no expert!!

We can only assume the three Bald Eagles we seen fishing were a pair and possibly a baby of theirs?? Or just one loner in the pairs territory? There is a large Bald Eagle in the area and we were hoping to see her, though we did not this day.

In 2007 the Bald Eagle was taken off the endangered list. Their numbers are on the rise. No doubt do to the chemicals not being used as much as they once were? The largest density of mating Golden Eagles in the world is in California. I have personally seen and photographed many here in Oregon. We have both noticed a rise in many of the birds of prey here in Oregon.

The young Bald Eagle has spekles of brown in it's white feathers as long as five years. See I only thought it was two years! Three years is very rare while four years is rare but not as much. Therefor with this information the attacking Bald Eagles were a young pair. The one of the three Bald Eagles had brown as well, but the two Bald Eagles which were fishing together were pure white.

The Golden Eagle also reaches maturity at five years. The young Golden Eagle changes looks with every malting. The older Golden Eagles just have a look to them of being wiser and not being caught in someone elses territory. Though I have photographed a pair of grown Golden Eagles that were ran off by an unkindness of ravens.

Bald Eagles in the wild can live up to 30 years. Seeing the Bald Eagles diet consists of a lot of fish we usually see them in the canyon, though Golden eagle we see them more in the open prairies. I personally do not remember seeing a Golden Eagle down in the canyon near the water like we did. Maybe the Bald Eagles attacking like they were is a reason for this? We have seen Bald Eagle in areas of the Golden Eagles though. See the Bald eagle as well as the Golden Eagle can be scavengers this could be why we seen both species of eagle collecting on the desert floor?

Both species of eagles like to be in unpopulated areas of human. I have yet to see the Golden Eagle around people, though I have photographed the large Bald Eagle as well as the young Bald Eagle (it is the one I photographed with a lot of brown in its white), while it was full tourist season here. Though both the Golden Eagle and the Bald Eagle I can say comfortably I have gotten within 20 feet, Guy says 15, but ?? So they do not mind in some instances if a peson gets closer.

Now the caged, tamed eagles are a whole different ball of wax! I do not do caged, or tamed wildlife so I really do not have experience with these. I understand their are places where such wildlife collect for survival purposes and I really have yet to visit one of these places.

My photography is of species we have here in my home state of Oregon. I observe, and share what I have seen. This site of the conflict between the Bald Eagles and the Golden Eagle was something to see!! I climbed the canyon where we seen the eagles resting, and/or waiting until the intruder which was the Golden Eagle in this surcomstance was ran off. The Golden Eagle stayed the longest. The Bald Eagle with the blue sky in the photograph was the first to leave. Than the Bald Eagle in the tree with the Golden Eagle left, and only when I lost my balance and made to much noise did the Golden Eagle leave. All the eagles new I was there, new I was doing something that was not harming them. Because of my limitations (and I say that tongue in cheek, because I do not feel my disabilities are limitations per say), I naturally move slow. The wildlife do not know how to react to a slow moving human.

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