Feeding catfish with an eagle watching

RedneckContributor - August 6, 2022

Yesterday evening, while I was headed to the pond to feed my catfish, I noticed both bald eagles sitting out on dead trees in the pond.  Those trees are normally underwater but we haven’t had any heavy rains this summer.  As I got closer to the pond, one eagle flew off but the other hung around for a bit.  I don’t know what it is, but I so love watch eagles.  I likewise enjoy watching the catfish splash around while feeding.

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Happy lil’ fish! 🐟

 

Until an eagle grabs hold of it.  🙂  And they ain’t as little as you might think.

 

😨 They are big! And don’t look very happy anymore. ha! 

Have you ever seen the eagles bathe themselves? I know smaller birds like bird baths and will toss water on their wings and rinse off.

Have a beautiful day!

 

I’ve never seen them take a bath.  It is very common for me to find them on the water’s edge though.

 

Ben Franklin once wrote to his daughter criticizing the great seal of the US by saying “Bald Eagle…is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly…[he] is too lazy to fish for himself.” I think Ben was wrong, it looks like yours know how to fish and is a very majestic noble bird that I am proud is our national bird.

 

Typical of politicians, then & now, he chose to pick one way in which they procure food and then try to make you think that is their only way.  He also attempts to make animals that eat carrion seem lowly.  Yes, bald eagles will eat carrion and will steal from other animals, but my experience is they would rather catch fish any day of the week.  It is not a matter of being lazy.  That would be like saying buzzards are lazy because all they eat is carrion.  Now that is just plain foolish and old Ben should have know better.

Carrion eaters provide a great service in nature by removing dead bodies and by doing so, reduce the spread of disease.  Any animal that can eat carrion without getting sick have found a great food supply and one you don’t have to work all that hard at.  It is a great biological adaptation.  Preppers know it is important to have multiple methods of finding food to eat.  Having multiple methods of feeding themselves & their young is not lazy… it is a great survival strategy for their species.

And yes, anyone who sees bald eagles up close would most certainly consider them majestic and noble.  I too am proud they are our national symbol and bird.

 

Shows you the difference 4 days can make.  You can no longer see the trees in the pond.  We had a couple of nice rains and I’d say the water level has gone up around 2 feet.

 

Redneck, what is your risk of flooding if you get torrential rain upstream?

 

No flooding.  The excess water exits out the spillway which is over on the far right of the picture.  Behind that line of trees in the background is a huge sand bottom ditch.  You could dry a car in it and the banks are maybe 6-8 feet high.  But even if it backed up, and I’ve never seen it do that, all that would happen is the bottom pasture would flood.  The horse barn is further up on the hill in my middle pasture.  The house is above that, maybe 50′ above the pond.

 

Both eagles together in a tree overlooking the pond.

 

That is a once in a lifetime picture! Really good looking birds.

 

Actually it is not unusual for them to perch together and they ignore me down below.  But they are most certainly beautiful animals.  My wife doesn’t like the picture because she thinks they look mean.  Well they are apex predators.  Nothing hunts them.  Everything about them makes them just incredible hunters.

 

Hey Redneck – I saw this and thought you might like it.

Eagle gets a snack!
byu/soulsista04us innextfuckinglevel

 

Actually, no.  Most wildlife experts frown on the feeding of bald eagles, and in some places it is illegal.  For an eagle to act like that one in the video, that tells me it is accustomed to folks throwing food at it… likely not a one time situation.  That is not good.  Other eagles can see this and it can cause the eagles to fight… and possibly get injured.

Conservationists agree the best way to help eagles is to improve their habitat and thus make their hunting easier.  I do my part by feeding my catfish and by doing so, have a much higher density of fish than normal… much higher.  That makes their job all the easier and should make the rearing of their young all the more successful each year.

To demonstrate how that eagle’s behavior is very unusual, my eagles never let me get very close.  I have never once, in all these years, even seen them catch a fish… even with the water boiling with catfish feeding.  They obviously don’t need my help in hunting.  They do appreciate good habitat however.  My degree is in Biology, but I am certainly no eagle expert.  However I have a theory as to why I see them so often with most of the time them sitting on a limb overwatching the pond.  I am almost certain they aren’t hunting at that time.  I think they are protecting their territory, and their major food source from other eagles.  I have never seen any other eagles but I do think they are guarding the pond.

 

You are right… While my initial thoughts were, “Wow, what a good catch that eagle is” I should have also seen it from that perspective of it being humanized and that isn’t the best way to help eagles out. I do admire what you do and how you observe and respect them from a distance.

 

The distance thing is not my choice.  It is their choice and is natural, as they are wild animals.

 

Why are you down there bothering me?   🙂  Actually, I think I was bothering him/her.  It was facing the pond this morning and I do think it was on the hunt for catfish.