Golden Eagles toss goats of cliff
Hogs
You may think you are a great Hunter. Most of you are with a bow. But I still think Eagles truly are the greatest most lethal hunters on earth. I apologize in advance if this was already posted. Generally when I do post something really cool It already was and someone will let me know :)
I'd saw that before. But still really interesting to see again.
Please note those are predatory GOLDEN eagles, and not the scavenging, parasitic birds that are our unfortunate national symbol.
A friend documented a golden eagle killing a pronghorn fawn on their ranch a few years ago. The next week they found an adult doe with the exact same kinds of wounds.
Do some searching online and you'll find videos of golden eagles hunting small wolves in, I think, Tibet. These birds flat out get out and work for a living, taking risks and living off those rewards.
A bald eagle would rather eat on a bloated carp, or the carcass of a deer or cow.
As a falconer told me -
"Golden eagles are Republicans. Bald eagles are Democrats."
Great video. Predators doing what they do best and hard not to appreciate their tenacity.
Golden Eagles are pretty amazing. But bald eagles don't always scavenge. In this video the first attack is a bald eagle killing an owl. The goldens killing the wolf is in there too.
Pretty funny political analogy there Writer!
Really no reason to venture in a political analogy or debate. Both incredibly keen predators....thanks for posting the vid Jack!
Mark
Awesome animals indeed! I think bald eagles are equally impressive. I love watching them fish.
Wow, Mountain Man, bald eagles can kill things? Thanks for the education, I really need to get outside more than two or three minutes per year. :-)
Never seen a golden eagle eating a rotting carp.
Of course balds can catch fish and I've seen them take big Canada geese, but they'd rather someone else to it for them. :-)
"Golden eagles are Republicans. Bald eagles are Democrats."
I like that...8^)))
Recently seen video on one of the Discovery channels of a Golden whooping up on a Steller's Eagle (Heaviest eagle in the world I believe).
I watch so many Discovery programs I get them confused, but if I remember correctly, it was on one the "Wild Russia" episodes I believe about Kamchatka...
Regardless if its a Bald, Steller's, Golden or whatever, if its an eagle, its a badazz...
Am sure there are falconers here with more insight, but being worldly, Goldens come in different weights and sizes depending to the continent and region...
Would luv to see a Golden and a Harpy eagle go at it... My money would be on the Harpy...8^)
I have seen this before, but am amazed every time I see it.
As far as bald eagles being solely scavengers.....that is total BS. I have watched bald eagles on hundreds of occasions grab fish out of a river. Have seen one unsuccessfully try to take a king salmon. I have also seen bald eagles slam and kill ducks in mid air, take geese, take muskrats, rabbits/hares, foxes, marmots, parka squirrels, and numerous small birds. Sure, they scavenge, but not exclusively, and not to the extent that has been portrayed in a post above.
I live jut south of LakeMoultrie in SC and I hardly go by a day with out seeing an eagle , they spend a lot of time following voltures and often I have one where I hunt scare the crap out of me as he keeps landing in the trre just over my head, and looks down at me, that makes me uneasy. There is a vedio on utube of one graving a deer ( fawn).
I was hunting in the Siskyous near Mount Ashland and I see a pair of three point blacktail bucks. These are pretty good bucks and not small antlered , small bodied bucks but probably 2 1/2 to three yr olds and definitely twins. They are angling down the mountain toward me so I just decided to get behing the cutbank of an old logging road and wait them out. Every once in a while I would peek over the edge where I was at and look through this bush to see where the deer were at so I could ambush them. The last time I looked they were walking on this high edge of the cutbank about 30 yards or so from where I was at and going away from me to the far side to work down and cross the road. Then I hear a scream like I have never heard befor and I look and coming out of the timber about a hundred yards away is a golden eagle. It has its wings set and is about 10 feet off of the ground. It is coming really fast and right at the deer. The eagle hits the last buck , one closest to me right in the middle of the back really hard and knocks it off of the bluff which is a fall of at least 12 feet and maybe 15 , not a roll down but a fall . The buck hits really hard on its side and gets up obviously shaken and heads off down the mountain at a staggering run. The eagle keeps its wings set and just goes out over the valley.
I waited for a long time but as far as I could tell the eagle never came back.
This was my conclusion. Eagle wanted to completely disable the buck o9r wound him so bad that the eagle could come back later and find the deer and kill it or feed on the carcass. It was not terrortorial because the attack was from long range on a non predator animal. The eagle was not intimidated by the size of the animal at all but had a plan and carried it out. I have no idea why it screamed but it did cause the deer to stop.
God bless, Steve
I posted a sequence of photos over on the Leatherwall a year or so ago when on the same subject of a Golden eagle chasing a adult doe whitetail (don't know how big) but she didn't have spots, but this was during winter over a snow covering a picked cornfield...
Link to the photos:
http://leatherwall.bowsite.com/TF/lw/thread2.cfm?threadid=252502&category=88#3708483
Calm down Elmer, I NEVER said they are totally scavengers.
I stated that given a chance, bald eagles will gladly take carrion.
They are not as keen a predatory bird as a golden eagle.
