A nice eagle-feather pillow

March 7, 2018 10:49 AM

Crow lands on annoyed eagle's head near cafe in Tamilnadu, India.
posted by jeather (15 comments total)

When I lived in Vancouver, I was walking along the beach one day when I saw a bald eagle getting harassed by a pack of seagulls. There were a good half dozen of them or more, and they were beating the shit out of that bird. They'd swoop in one at a time and collide with him, then flutter off as he turned to counterattack and another one would come in. The eagle finally gave up and flew off, and the gulls were still in pursuit when I lost them.

Other birds really hate eagles.
posted by Naberius at 10:59 AM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

I love how well-documented this kerfuffle is, and all the gradations of annoyance on the eagle's face.
posted by lunasol at 11:07 AM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

Huh. I see a bald eagle that nests nearby on occasion, and yeah, it's regularly accompanied by a murder of harassing crows. However, I've also seen a bald eagle just standing out in the mud near Puget Sound with a bunch of seagulls, looking for all the world like an oversized seagull itself. The majestic mystique of bald eagles goes away when you see them in real life, pooping on car hoods and just kind of generally being a dorky bird.
posted by Existential Dread at 11:10 AM on March 7, 2018 [9 favorites]

Also, from TFA: These pictures, taken by Greaves Henriksen in Tamilnadu, India, show the eagle is exacerbated by its incessant guest

My kingdom for an editor!
posted by Existential Dread at 11:14 AM on March 7, 2018 [6 favorites]

I've seen blue jays in my backyard land on the backs of red-tailed hawks while the hawks are mid-flight as they work together to chase it out of the area. Corvids fucking HATE raptors.
posted by saladin at 11:38 AM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

The flip side of bald eagle dorkiness is definitely seeing an osprey fish. Osprey just kinda hang out, but if you're by a lake with fish in it, you will inevitably see a bird-shaped arrow swoosh down, dive headfirst into the water and come out of the splash with a trout in its talons. I had the great luck to see it many times growing up and it's still a sight I sorely miss. That video is a bit more dramatic in that all the osprey I saw came out of the water more easily, but still. Once you learn how they operate, the best thing is to watch one hang out in the sky until it spots a fish and does that incredible dive. There's nothing quite like it.

Also damn the eagle in the FPP is huge. Crows are not small birds.
posted by fraula at 11:41 AM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

In the struggle between opportunists, it doesn't always go well for crows: Bald Eagle Devours Crow.

OTOH, all birds gotta eat. Driving in the rural northwestern US, it's not unusual to see crows, ravens, and eagles scavenging the same roadkill.
posted by cenoxo at 11:53 AM on March 7, 2018

Also damn the eagle in the FPP is huge. Crows are not small birds.

I think the reason the bird looks so small is because it's a black drongo, not a crow or any kind of corvid.
posted by Halle at 12:06 PM on March 7, 2018 [7 favorites]

I don't know, Existential Dread, I think it was only slightly eagle before, but it was exacerbated into being very eagle indeed.
posted by Four Ds at 12:14 PM on March 7, 2018 [6 favorites]

When I lived in Vancouver, I was walking along the beach one day when I saw a bald eagle getting harassed by a pack of seagulls.

By the way, I will admit that I originally wrote that as "a bald eagle getting harassed by a flock of seagulls." And then I stopped and asked myself, "they'll know I don't mean the band, right? They won't think I'm accusing an 80s new wave act with really interesting hair of running down and clubbing an endangered animal, will they?"

I should have trusted you, and I'm sorry.
posted by Naberius at 12:39 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]

Great pictures...but boy there's some major-league anthropomorphizing going on in the captions.
posted by Greg_Ace at 12:46 PM on March 7, 2018

Would there be another source for this story besides the Daily Fail? I would love to read it, but I'd prefer to give my clicks to a marginally less white-supremacist establishment if at all possible.
posted by tel3path at 3:14 PM on March 7, 2018 [4 favorites]

I couldn't find one that had all the photos on any other site, I did look.

I think the reason the bird looks so small is because it's a black drongo, not a crow or any kind of corvid.

Thank you for the correction. I know nothing about birds.
posted by jeather at 3:21 PM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

Would there be another source for this story besides the Daily Fail? I would love to read it, but I'd prefer to give my clicks to a marginally less white-supremacist establishment if at all possible.

I agree. For us non-fascists in the UK this is like linking to Stormfront because they had some photos of kittens in a basket.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 3:42 PM on March 7, 2018 [3 favorites]

There are some here.
Or you could google "Greaves Henriksen eagle". I'm willing to bet that the mail didn't pay for the pictures, and may not even have got permission. They've got form in this regard.

But yeah, I'm not giving the mail clicks.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 3:45 PM on March 7, 2018 [2 favorites]