Eagles 3, Crows 0

[Eagle Guns]

This great story was e-mailed to me and thought some of you might enjoy it?


From a guy who runs a 2000 acre corn farm up around Barron, WI, not far from

Oshkosh. He used to fly F4Es and F-16s for the Guard and participated in the

first Gulf War...Submitted for your enjoyment, and as a reminder that there are

other great, magnificent flyers around.

I went out to plant corn for a bit to finish a field before tomorrow
morning and witnessed The Great Battle.

A golden eagle - big bastard, about six foot wingspan - flew right in
front of the tractor. It was being chased by three crows that were
continually dive bombing it and pecking at it. The crows do this
because the eagles rob their nests when they find them.

At any rate, the eagle banked hard right in one evasive maneuver, then
landed in the field about 100 feet from the tractor. This eagle stood
about 3 feet tall. The crows all landed too and took up positions
around the eagle at 120° apart, but kept their distance at about 20
feet from the big bird. The eagle would take a couple steps towards
one of the crows and they'd hop backwards and forward to keep their
distance.

Then the reinforcements showed up.

I happened to spot the eagle's mate hurtling down out of the sky at
what appeared to be approximately Mach 1.5. Just before impact the
eagle on the ground took flight, and the three crows which were
watching the grounded eagle, also took flight thinking they were going
to get in some more pecking on the big bird. The first crow being
targeted by the diving eagle never stood a snowball's chance in hell.
There was a mid-air explosion of black feathers and that crow was
done. The diving eagle then banked hard left in what had to be a 9G
climbing turn, using the energy it had accumulated in the dive, and
hit crow #2 less than two seconds later. Another crow dead.

The grounded eagle, which was now airborne and had an altitude
advantage on the remaining crow, which was streaking eastward in full
burner, made a short dive then banked hard right when the escaping
crow tried to evade the hit. It didn't work - crow #3 bit the dust at
about 20 feet altitude.

This aerial battle was better than any air show I've been to, including
the warbirds show at Oshkosh! The two eagles ripped the crows apart
and ate them on the ground, and as I got closer and closer working my
way across the field, I passed within 20 feet of one of them as it ate
its catch. It stopped and looked at me as I went by and you could see
in the look of that bird that it knew who's Boss Of The Sky. What a
beautiful bird!

 

[Igiveup]

What a great story. Don't fool with mother nature.

 

[Crazy K38]

this was an amazing story had it been told by anyone else, the amazing detail that makes the story would have been lost

 

[dovekiller]

The biggest eagle was the female. The smaller, fast diver was the male.

The males do some spectacular flying during the nesting time. The female sits the nest and the male has to feed himself and everybody else so he works his butt off. This is the time of year when cats and small dogs suddenly go missing.

I've never seen an eagle attack a crow but I've seen them steal their food. They aren't shy about that at all.

 

[Onomea]

That's great!

 

[BarbC]

Peck me?? No, peck you!!

 

[fat tom]

Excellent! I hate crows.
f.t.

 

[Hunt200]

I guess the eagles had enough. I never saw a raptor actually kill a crow that was harassing it.

 

[M29since14]

Very good story. That would have been something to see!

I used to have an old friend who, like a lot of people his age, hated Eagles. I never could understand it, but it was a different time then. He also told me he had once witnessed a "Crow court," which I gather is not uncommon, but which humans seldom see. He described it in considerable detail. In this case, the Crow on trial was not killed, but was merely ostracized. My friend believed Crows have a fairly elaborate society, and all his life he found watching them very interesting. They do seem to be remarkably intelligent, but apparently these three were a little slow on the uptake.

 

[44wheelman]

After reading that, I sure am glad the Eagle became our national emblem, and not the turkey as Ben Franklin would have had it.

 

[Clayton]

Originally posted by 44wheelman:
After reading that, I sure am glad the Eagle became our national emblem, and not the turkey as Ben Franklin would have had it.

I would have a hard time calling an eagle into shotgun range every spring

 

[scoutsdad]

I had to stop my truck the other day. A golden had a trophy rabbit and wouldn't give it, even to a Dodge Ram.

 

[BarbC]

I came over the hill one day in the development and there was a young bald eagle with a squirrel at his feet. The poor squirrel was flattened out on the road, huffing and puffing in fear. I jumped out of the car and yelled at the eagle, "Get away! Get away!" The eagle flew off and the squirrel was just frozen there. I said, "Run, run!" and saved his little life for another day.

Sorry, Eagle.

 

[M29since14]

I came over the hill one day in the development and there was a young bald eagle with a squirrel at his feet. The poor squirrel was flattened out on the road, huffing and puffing in fear. I jumped out of the car and yelled at the eagle, "Get away! Get away!" The eagle flew off and the squirrel was just frozen there. I said, "Run, run!" and saved his little life for another day.

An interventionist!

(I would have paid a small fee to have watched this scene.

)