When eagles grapple, lock talons and spin in the air, one of them has to turn over on its back and extend its feet for the other to come down and engage. I have seen this same behavior with white tailed kites (see prior blog post). A review on the web explains this behavior as a territorial struggle. At the Hood Canal you could see this happen often, one eagle turning on its back and the other engaging, though often they would appear about to engage and not. What is curious to me is why, if this is a battle for superiority, would one of them take a position upside down, which would seemingly imply a weaker, inferior more vulnerable position? I am still convinced it is more of a courting behavior. Of maybe just fun to do. In any case Bald Eagles are top of the pecking order and no one knows it better than the Great Blue Herons who feed in the same waters.
Speaking of fun, watch the behaviors between eagles and Great Blue Herons and you are sure to get a chuckle out of it. Here an adult Bald Eagle swoops down very near a heron. It is not after the heron, it is after the Midshipman fish near by.
Here a juvenile eagle is coming in for a fish and the heron appears to experience an elevated heart rate in its attempt to get out of the flight path.
Now, those midshipmen fish are everywhere, why is it the eagles tend to swoop down next to the herons? Could be they love upsetting the herons. Or it could be that they know the herons are good fishermen and wherever you find one you will find fish. It does seem at times that the eagles would prefer to take a fish from a heron that catch one on their own. Next week I will post a series of images showing what I mean.
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