Comments on Birdchick Blog: Bald Eagle Attacks Swan

Those photos were awesome. We happen to have one ...

2008-11-16T03:50:00.000-06:00

Those photos were awesome. We happen to have one pair of nesting Bald Eagles in our area and I spend countless hours there every spring once the Eaglets have hatched, observing them and taking many pictures. I have photos of both adults in the nest at the same time, the adults flying into the nest with prey, the adults feeding the eaglets and I even created a couple of collages to share. All photos are at least large enough to print at 8" X 10" in size and some the files are large enough to print at 20" X 30" in size. Go to http://bangorphoto.fotki.com and scroll down to the "Pennsylvania Bald Eagles" Album. You will find download instructions in the album description. I hope you enjoy them. These photos are for personal use only. Not to be sold or used for commercial use.

There is a GROWING number of people (and a very vo...

2008-09-23T07:18:00.000-05:00

There is a GROWING number of people (and a very vocal group, at that) that see no distinction between native and nonnative. For example, they were interested in having the coyotes controlled that were eating feral cats at a California University. In my mind they really don't care about species survival, they are only concerned that MAN not do any of the killing. Another example, they don't want feral cats euthanized but do not care about the small mammals, lizards, or birds killed by the cats, or for that matter, all the factory farmed livestock that goes into cat food. They say cat predation is 'natural', when you and I know it is nothing of the sort. It is this disconnect we need to address. Native wildlife SHOULD have precendence over exotic, and species survival must trump individual lives. You can and should control cowbirds to allow Kirtland's Warblers to survive, you should control feral cats to allow native birds to survive. But I fear we are losing this battle.

I am Kelly Munday the real photographer. The fake...

2008-09-22T02:26:00.000-05:00

I am Kelly Munday the real photographer. The fake person Tom Carver has tried to claim credit for my photos...not sure why??

Anyways, they were taken by myself in April 2008 on Lakelse Lake near Terrace BC. The birds are a bald eagle and a trumpeter swan, both common to Terrace. The series of pictures that I captured are unique in that no one has ever captured this event before. I have talked to other locals that say they have seen signs of a struggle but no witnesses. The whole story can be read here

http://www.terracedaily.ca/cgi-bin/show_articles.cgi?ID=2851&TOPIC=0

There's someone else claiming credit for the swan/...

2008-07-21T21:50:00.000-05:00

There's someone else claiming credit for the swan/eagle photos in an email that's going around. Here is what the message says: "These photos were taken recently by me, Tom Carver.I live on Lakelse Lake just outside of Terrace, B.C. I own The Water Lily Bay Resort and I also feed the swans on the lake all the time!"
Will the real bird photographer please stand up?

I have a series of photos I took last year of a ba...

2008-07-11T19:29:00.000-05:00

I have a series of photos I took last year of a bald eagle attacking an adult great blue heron. I have attached the url to my name. The heron appears to flip the eagle on its back and make its getaway. There are also photos there of a peregrine attacking black backed gulls who took over its prey.

Not all swans in North America are introduced and ...

2008-07-05T09:15:00.000-05:00

Not all swans in North America are introduced and invasive. Trumpeter swans and tundra swans naturally occur in North America. Mute swans do not occur here, are introduced, and causing several problems for native wildlife.

If you look at the swan being attacked by the eagle, the head shape and bill color are NOT consistent for mute swan. If you note the mute swan photo further down in the blog entry, you will note the orange bill.

So, who do you believe?

Well, you have your choice of someone forwarding an email with no back ground in birds or the writer of this blog who has been studying birds over 25 years and lives in a state where she sees native trumpeter and tundra swans and can tell the difference between those native species and an introduced mute swan.

I received an email today, with the same pictures ...

2008-07-05T08:23:00.000-05:00

I received an email today, with the same pictures as this blog, but with the following wording:

Swans are an introduced exotic invasive species from Europe. Because they are pretty, authorities are reluctant to control them, despite their detrimental effects on native water fowl. Well, here's an organic non-chemical means of controlling them. We just need to get more of an Eagle program going. Page below to see nature's controls in action. Y-Man

These photos were taken recently by myself Tom Carver, I live on Lakelse Lake just outside of Terrace, B.C..
I own The Water Lily Bay Resort, I also feed the swans on the lake all the time!

Eagles are very common in this area too. These are amazing photos!

Enjoy!

SO, Whom do you believe?

So I guess the eagle did not get to eat that morni...

2008-07-03T10:13:00.000-05:00

So I guess the eagle did not get to eat that morning. Unless it got lucky with something else.

this is cool along the same lines

2008-06-13T12:56:00.000-05:00

this is cool along the same lines

Wanted to share a link to an article I just came a...

2008-06-09T18:07:00.000-05:00

Wanted to share a link to an article I just came across regarding these photos: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1165655.ece

Extraordinary photos!

2008-06-07T12:29:00.000-05:00

Extraordinary photos!

Growing up in Iowa, in the cemetary across the str...

2008-06-04T22:13:00.000-05:00

Growing up in Iowa, in the cemetary across the street, there was a pair of Mute Swans in one of the ponds there. I don't recall exaclty why they were put there, but they were permanent residents. Shortly after we moved to IL, we read in the paper there about two young teenage boys that went there at night and stoned the swans to death. The boys were arrested, but I don't recall what if any punishment was administered.

Mr. McSickI appreciate what you do as a wildlife r...

2008-06-04T22:02:00.000-05:00

Mr. McSick

I appreciate what you do as a wildlife rehabber and have even volunteered my time to pick up injured wildlife and spent a few summers in an avian nursery. I'm sure you know that birds in captivity undergoing recovery do not behave the same as they would in the wild. So, you couldn't base mute swan behavior with native waterfowl in captivity as to what you might see in the wild.

There IS documented behavior of mute swans attacking waterfowl:

From the Chesapeake Watershed:

"In the early 1990s, a molting flock of between 600 to 1,000 mute swans utilized a beach area, Barren Island (off of Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge), as a loafing site. This same site was the last remaining nesting site for black skimmers (Rynchops niger) and the last natural nesting site for least terns (Sterna antilarum) in Maryland. The mute swan activity crushed eggs and young of birds nesting in the beach colony, which led to the black skimmers and least terns abandoning this area for three nesting seasons (Maryland DNR files)."

Also from the Maryland DNR:

"Observations in Maryland and findings reported in scientific literature support the fact that territorial mute swans can be very aggressive towards other waterfowl, displacing native species from their breeding and foraging habitats.

Not only do they displace native waterfowl from breeding and staging habitats, they have been reported to attack, injure, or kill other wetland birds."

There's also an interesting article from the early 90s in the Auk where mute swans were observed going after black ducks, herons, gulls and even Canada geese.

We have 4 mute swans where I do rehab work, and th...

2008-06-04T15:44:00.000-05:00

We have 4 mute swans where I do rehab work, and there is never agression towards any other waterfowl. I would say that if there is a problem it needs handled responsibly, not like most places deal with canada geese i.e killing them. Its a tragedy that species that we introduced have to be made locally extinct. Lets say we do shoot them, if they arent killed immediately, theyre going to end up at a rehab center making my job even harder.

I did a little google-fu and found the following q...

2008-06-04T14:43:00.000-05:00

I did a little google-fu and found the following quote from the photographer:

"The outcome of the event was fine for the swan, it managed to get away and flew down to the water. We were at the mouth of the Lakelse River April 21, 2008 when I captured the photos."

Actual link found here:

http://www.pbase.com/akacake/guestbook

I'm still trying to figure out how a swan could ki...

2008-06-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

I'm still trying to figure out how a swan could kill a duck.

*gulp*

Maybe I should stop now.

Any thoughts on this?

2008-06-04T07:34:00.000-05:00

Any thoughts on this?

Ok; sure it's life & death (well, if the eagle had...

2008-06-04T00:30:00.000-05:00

Ok; sure it's life & death (well, if the eagle had it's way) but man those shots are gorgeous to look at! The wingspread's and posture of the respective birds in relation to each other. Absolutely beautiful high drama.

OOPS. (My link will show you why.)

2008-06-04T00:23:00.000-05:00

OOPS. (My link will show you why.)

I grew up on Long Island where mute swans are an a...

2008-06-03T23:47:00.000-05:00

I grew up on Long Island where mute swans are an absolute plague. And I admit, I always wondered how the cygnets would taste (the adults would probably be too muscular). No-one's suggested that as a control, though.

I watched a juvenile Bald Eagle do the same thing ...

2008-06-03T23:20:00.000-05:00

I watched a juvenile Bald Eagle do the same thing to an adult Great Blue Heron not far from here about 3 months ago. It didn't last long, and he never connected very well, but did take quite a few aggressive passes at the heron. At the time I just chalked it up to a youth getting used to his new body and trying to bully anything in sight, even if it was bigger than himself (which the heron did at least appear larger). But if all these adults are doing it too, maybe they just were having a bad couple days of fishing.

Whoa...just...whoa.

2008-06-03T21:24:00.000-05:00

Whoa...just...whoa.