ML618123258

Age and sex

Adult Female - 1; Adult Male - 1

Observation details

Pair sitting on the lights at Swan Field, preening, still coming into full adult plumage. Vocalizing a bit. They were dive-bombed by an AMCR. An unsuspecting imm. gull was flying by and the older (further along in molt, presumed female due to larger size) flew out to chase it and then actually attacked it but dropped it. The gull fell to the ground among the trees, but enough in the open that the eagles might have been able to get to it. They flew around, seemingly trying to decide if they would drop down, but did not go all the way to the ground. The two crows came in and pulled at the gull's tail and walked around a bit, but the gull was not yet dead, and they flew off. The eagles, meanwhile, had returned to the lights and were still there as we left the area. It wasn't clear if they would go down to get the gull or not. It is true there were six people and two dogs standing across the water on the berm watching the drama, and likely two other people in the tennis courts, so perhaps that was too much attention. I suspect, however, that the location of the gull would have required the eagles to land and then hop on the grass a bit, which they could easily do, but that would make taking off a bit tricky because they would have to hop back out. Photos to document the event. Some audio from prior to the attack when the eagles were mostly sitting and preening.

Technical information

Model

NIKON D3500

ISO

125

Focal length

300 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.3

Shutter speed

1/500 sec

Dimensions

2582 pixels x 1676 pixels

Original file size

2.2 MB