A bald eagle grabs a fish from the steaming waters of Lake Minnetonka. I photographed this and several other bald eagles in November. There was a portion of the lake that hadn’t frozen over yet, and the eagles were dive bombing the waterfowl that were still in the area. I watched several eagles come close to grabbing an unwary duck, but none succeeded. Eventually, this eagle came up with the fishy prize. A local bird enthusiast suggested an interesting hypothesis about how the eagles catch their preferred prey, fish. He speculated that the eagles knowingly scared the S*#t out of the ducks by dive bombing them from above. The duck poo attracts fish, bringing them closer to the surface, where the eagles can swoop back around and take advantage of a better opportunity for their preferred food source.
This idea sounded interesting, so I emailed my NE Explorer, bird expert, and friend Peter Hellman to see what he thought. He, in turn, contacted a world-renowned bald eagle expert, Harvey Webster, and described what I had been told. Harvey had a fair amount to say about the ducks and eagles in general, but ended his email to me with, “I think the poop idea is full of crap.” So there you have it, January’s Natural Note with wisdom straight from the eagle expert’s mouth. Happy New Year to all!