Eagle and osprey

[Al Agnew]

Mary and I were walking in the park in the middle of Livingston, along the Yellowstone, this morning, when we looked up and saw an adult bald eagle diving on an osprey.  The osprey had a small fish in its claws, and both were pretty high in the sky.  The eagle swooped past the osprey, who dodged several times.  Finally, in one particularly sharp swerve, it let go of the fish.  The eagle caught the fish in mid-air before it had dropped ten feet.  As it flew off downstream, the osprey began to dive bomb the eagle.  The eagle just ignored it, apparently sure the osprey wasn't going to actually hit it.  As they went out of sight, the osprey was still trying to get its fish back.

I've always heard this happens all the time, but this was the first time I've ever seen it happen.  It was really fun to watch.  Our national bird is a thief and a mugger.

By the way, it's been cold out here, for those of you still suffering through the heat in Missouri.  The last three days it has rained, and the high temps have been in the upper 40s and low 50s.  It rained enough that the river got muddy yesterday, and remained so today.  

We walked along the river left channel of the big island in the middle of Livingston.  Three years ago, most of the river was coming down this channel.  Now, there is just a trickle of water flowing through it, maybe 20 cubic feet per second (the river is flowing about 1400 cfs right now). There was so little water that whatever mud entered the channel had settled out by the time it got to where we were walking.  There are still some large, deep pools, however, and I almost went home and grabbed my streamer rod.  There are definitely still a lot of trout in the channel in those deep pools, and on a cloudy, blustery day a streamer can bring some big browns out to play.

[fishinwrench]

Not only is the bald headed buzzard a thief and a mugger, he is a wasteful cuss.   I saw a nice striper snatched up and dragged to the bank one Spring where only the gills and eggs were eaten.  8 pounds of meat was left to rot.

In all truth, we couldn't have chosen a more fitting mascot.  

[Johnsfolly]

Although I agree with Ben Franklin that the wild turkey would be a more noble national bird, I would hate not being able to chase them around in the spring and now again starting next Sat. I can't imagine that an eagle would be a good "eating" bird.

Al - let us know if you land any of those channel trout.

[timinmo]

I saw the same action between eagle and osprey on the James River in Virginia.  I don't remember if the osprey dropped the fish or not but the eagle was sure trying to make him.  We were fishing with Capt. Jack West, who some of you may remember from the old River Smallies site.  We had a trip booked with him the next year but he past away between trips. 

 

[oodlesiggy]

I was fishing at Mozingo and noticed an eagle chasing an osprey. The osprey did not have a fish, but the eagle was chasing it down. It was like watching a dogfight between fighter jets. I eventually lost sight of them as they disappeared into a cove behind some trees. As I trolled past the cove I could see 1 bird coming back towards way off in the distance. I assumed it was going to be the eagle, but to my surprise it was the osprey and I never saw the eagle again the rest of the day. I saw 4 osprey this weekend at Mozingo diving and catching. Such an awesome sight to watch! No eagles yet though.