Originally Posted by
Linda Dulak
John: Both the osprey and the eagle have nests nearby. The osprey has a nest about a mile away (as the osprey flies, so to say) at the top of a grain silo, a site that has been occupied by ospreys since the early 70s, a time when they were decreasing in numbers due to DDT. The eagles have a nest that is less than 1/2 mile away, across the creek water and west of here. That's a fairly new nest of about 3 years. Their prior nest was lost due to the toppling of the tree it was in. Both like to fish here, especially when the fish are spawning. This was an attack to see if the osprey could make the eagle move away either because of the nest or the fishing rights.
BTW, I saw a fight one time between and eagle, and osprey and a black vulture over a fish. Lots of tumbling in the sky between all the individuals. And then winner was -- the vulture!!!! I was really surprised about the outcome but it was the vulture that flew away with the fish. And it's always interesting to find a fish rotting in the middle of a field hundreds of yards (or meters) from the water. Obviously none of the combatants managed to snag the fish and it fell to the ground.
It's always interesting to watch birds while relaxing!
Linda