Eagles CAN take off from the water!

[Ramona]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

Thanks, deblen, for posting the bald eagle pictures.

One day, Jim and i were in our dinghy, exploring up a mangrove creek in Pt. Stephens, under motor, about 5 kn. Suddenly, there was this rush of noise from behind us, and inches above Jim's head this huge wedgetailed eagle soared, talons extended, and snatched a fish out of the water just in front of us, and soared off. Big wow! My Simpson & Day bird book says they go to 210 cm. wingspan: 82 + inches! ....a little different than Big Bird, eh?

Ann

I was on a cruise ship in Alaska 3 weeks ago and saw my first bald eagle. I was surprised how small they are.

[MikeDofFreo]

Originally Posted by svHyLyte

Odd's are, what you saw was an Osprey--sometimes called a "Sea Eagle" as they closely resemble Eagles although actually classified as a "fish hawk" per the Audubon Field Guide.

Here in Western Australia we have both Ospreys and Sea Eagles. They are actually different birds with slightly different colouring and size. Of course, they are constantly being mis-identified, one for the other but are different.

[Chenega]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Shortly after anchoring offshore with the breeze blowing offshore I saw someone floundering 300m away. Somebody in a wetsuit- no, it's two people in a wetsuit...no, it's an eagle!


The eagle struggled, perhaps with a fish. With the wind direction, it wasn't going to get to shore. And clearly, it was lying in the water.


We jumped in the inflatable with a fishing net (wondering...good idea?) and headed toward it. We made it about 200m when the eagle struggled then became aloft!


So despite what National Geographic says, eagles can take off from the water.

Since the mid seventies, I’ve seen Bald Eagles land on the waters of Barkley Sound and the west coast of Vancouver Island to feed on herring balls. I’ve watched them fly away and “swim” to shore, dry themselves then fly off.
A book was published in the eighties “The Swimming Eagles of Barkley Sound”

[kmacdonald]

Originally Posted by coastalexplorer

Normally a bald Eagle catching a fish close to the surface will remain in flight. Should they miss judge that and becomes water bound; Typically they will use their wings to 'row ashore' So seeing one that has learnt to take off from the water would seem a bit exceptional. So interesting post.

Maybe if it's real windy they can take off by facing into the wind.

[Sailorbob8599]

Originally Posted by Ramona

I was on a cruise ship in Alaska 3 weeks ago and saw my first bald eagle. I was surprised how small they are.

How far away from it were you Ramona? Even the young ones are big, in fact, sometimes they appear to be bigger than the parent eagle.

We've had the pleasure of watching Bald Eagles pick off fish from the surface, catch a salmon too big to lift & have to row themselves ashore with their powerful wings & how about copulating in mid-air? now that's really something to see. They come together face to face, & literally cartwheeling out of the sky from a great height, to break away just a few feet short of hitting the water.

Yes, nature is truly exciting. We count ourselves lucky that we've seen more raw nature on the waters of the Salish Sea than just about anywhere else we've travelled. The Pacific North West is a truly amazing part of North America.

The only thing we dislike in our particular area are the Salmon Farms. Mostly owned by Norwegian companies who stock their ocean pens with Atlantic Salmon, a species not native to the west coast & harmful to the health of natural west coast salmon. The natural salmon are exposed to various types of disease & parasites that are reducing their returns to spawn & carry on their natural life-cycle.

Personally, I believe they should be made to farm these 'foreign' salmon on land in man-made ponds before they destroy all natural west coast stock. There's enough scientific evidence to prove this is happening, but there's also a lot of politics & money involved which prevents this change in farming practice from happening.

[Perna]

Ok not eagles but where I live in Switzerland we have Buzzards and Kites, (wingspan 4.5 and 6 foot respectively).

One particular buzzard obviously had its nest and young in some nearby woods and when I was walking on the adjacent lane in spring it would regularly fly up into a thermal, give its characteristic squeak, put its wings together and dive bomb me. It was a fantastic sight to see this small dot turn towards me and come shooting straight out of the sky only to back out in the last few feet.

Having seen how these birds mess about in thermals and the fact that the road was at least 100 yards away from the woods, I assumed it was using me as an excuse to have a bit of fun. Certainly a great experience for me though.

Unfortunately the trees have been trimmed back and he/she no longer nests there, but there you go. A fond memory.

[Macblaze]

This spring we spotted two eagles harassing a Canada goose in Port Harvey. We glanced away to tie up the boat and next thing we knew one of them was swimming for the shore towing his "catch." Interesting note, many people believe (in fact one of our fellow observers said this out loud) that a bald eagle cannot release its talons when towing in the water and thus susceptible to drowning. Not true. They can, but are pretty damn determined. This one made to shore and had a healthy feast. We never saw the second eagle after that.

[senormechanico]

Here's a youtube video of a Bald Eagle taking off from water.
He had to drop the fish to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIbyUqqXYGo

It has been nearly 40 years ago, but I did see two Bald Eagles copulating near the North end of Lake Washington (Seattle area).

It was exactly as described several posts ago. Really amazing to watch.