Swimming bald eagle

[Bearguy]

Last week my wife and I saw an amazing sight. We are out on Bear Island and caught sight of the bird early one morning. We saw the eagle circling about 20 feet above the water, having clearly identified some prey. It dove down once but missed. It flew back up and circled again, sometimes hovering above the spot. It was windy and choppy. Then it dove down again and caught the fish. The eagle seemed to flounder at first, flapping its wings and trying to take off with the fish in claw but unable to get out of the waves due to the weight of the catch.

The eagle paused for several seconds, considering what to do next. Then it began swimming into shore, fish in tow. It used its wings in a sort of butterfly stroke, and it literally swam about 60 feet into shore. At first it couldn't get out of the water along the rocky spot when it reached the shore. It then swam some 15 feet along the shore until it reached a spot that it could climb out. The eagle then gathered itself and the fish and took off. It rose to only 6-10 feet off the water, and flew along the shore before disappearing into the wooded shoreline.