...and speaking of Black-Backed Gulls, one was making
big dead-fish pieces into
small dead-fish pieces—directly in front of my place—this past Sunday.
The following day, at 8-AM, an Eagle was flying with great determination over my boat in the Broads.
While I was trying to decide if it was of the
Golden or
Bald variety, I heard the repeated cry of an Osprey.
Craning my neck, I saw an Osprey carrying a fish towards Mirror Lake, but over the treetops at Ayer's Point. He'd picked up some speed, but limited by his fish burden, the Eagle was quickly able to threaten him with his talons, and the Osprey released the fish.
The Eagle swooped down and picked up the fish from the water then disappeared over the treeline.
With apparent resignation, the Osprey slowly headed back the way he had come, which was Rattlesnake Island. The Eagle had seen the Osprey and had flown an
intercept course—from the direction of Welch Island, two miles away.
I watched all of this while trying—unsuccessfully—to open the freezer bag which "protected" my camera!
But this "file photo" is of a typical Eagle-Osprey encounter:
