In a previous post, I had a heron that was being challenged for its meal by an eagle.  That was not the only battle underway for food I saw recently.  An osprey came flying towards us while carrying a fish.  I was disappointed that I hadn’t seen it make the catch, but the bay is large, and it had been off in the distance when it made the take.  It was flying at us with the fish hanging down in its talons.  We were not the only ones to spot it, though.

A bald eagle also had noticed what it was carrying and started to make a play for the meal.  There ensued a bit of aerial jousting as the eagle swooped at the osprey and the smaller bird turned hard to evade its pursuer.  It was able to keep away, but it wasn’t ever getting any separation and, I presume, it decided this was going to keep going until it was worn out unless it dropped the fish.  The fish fell to the water, and I didn’t see the eagle find it so maybe it sank (unless the fish was still alive, in which case maybe it swam off).