Tag Archives: fight

Eagle Bugged by An Annoying Osprey

Mum and I took a trip down to Juanita Bay to see what sort of wildlife was out and about.  There was plenty of activity with both eagles and ospreys flying over the water looking for their next meal.  At one stage, an eagle had caught a small fish and took it to a log in the water to enjoy.  It seems that one of the ospreys decided that this could not stand and that the eagle should give up its catch.  The osprey swooped down repeatedly at the eagle trying to get it spooked and to maybe leave the fish behind.  The eagle was definitely annoyed by the osprey but was not inclined to move.  This went on for a while but eventually the osprey realized it was futile and moved on.

Crow and Gull Combat

When in the wild, you have two options for food.  First, you can find and catch your own.  Second, you can find someone else that has already found and caught some food, and you can steal it from them.  The latter is way easier than the former, provided you have the ability to relieve the owner of their meal.  I was walking alongside the water at the locks in Ballard one weekend and a crow was attempting to help a gull lose weight by taking its meal.  What followed was quite some aerial ballet and they twisted and turned with the gull trying to make sure it kept a good hold on its food while maneuvering hard to prevent the crow from taking anything.  The gull was ultimately successful in this case.

Who’s Attacking Who?

There are plenty of great blue herons that hang out in Juanita Bay.  While they are quite calm most of the time, they do get a little aggravated if they intrude on each other’s turf.  If one flies close to another, a little spat will ensue.  What is hard to tell is who is the one that is the aggressor and who is the one on the receiving end.  A pair of them ended up circling and wheeling around over the water one evening.  I wasn’t entirely sure how it had started but they were coming around on each other repeatedly.  Eventually they went in different directions and it was all over.  I’m not sure if either of them ended up in the space that they were fighting over!