Archive for the ‘Baldy’ Category

Please don’t read this if you don’t like to hear of Mother Nature’s cruelties and the reality of the food chain in the animal kingdom.

As you know, power boating is a huge part of our lives and we spend a lot of time working on the boat. While we were at the marina this morning, Kent noticed a bald eagle perched atop the mast of a nearby sailboat. The eagle seemed to have something in his talons, so I quickly grabbed the binoculars to see what he had. It was a brown rabbit, probably from one of the nearby farmer’s fields, or the Nico Wynd Golf Course.

As you may imagine, a sailboat mast is not awfully large in circumference, but the eagle seemed unaware of his precarious perch and began working on his prey, pulling fur with his beak from the body. He was plucking it in preparation for lunch. We watched for a while until the blood began dripping down the mast, then we left the eagle to his meal.

It was an amazing sight even though it seemed cruel and gory, and something I’d worried about occasionally while we were at Egmont, watching the eagles hunting for prey. It made me very aware of how large an animal an eagle will attack if he’s hungry and the picking is easy. A cat or a small dog would not be much of a match for the strength of this hungry bird.

Lesson learned - I think I’ll keep Hugo on the leash when we’re walking on the dyke, as this eagle and his mate nest each year in a tall tree on the Nico Wynd Golf Course. We can see the nest and the birds from our bedroom window, our deck and as we walk the paths of the area. I’ve watched them gathering branches, straw and odds and ends to shore up the nest each Spring. In the summer I watch as the eaglets pop their hungry little beaks in the air awaiting Momma and Papa who hunt continuously to keep them fed. Often, I hear the eagles screech, perhaps to frighten away would be attackers or perhaps simply at the joy of soaring the updrafts.