Bald eagles after wood duck

[Jessica Costa]

Watched two adult bald eagles circle and dive at a wood duck on Highland Lake, Falmouth this evening.  The wood duck was calling in alarm and managed to effectively evade their attacks by repeatedly bobbing under water, even when both eagles starting swooping in more and more frequently.  I have to say I was pretty impressed by the wood duck.  After a few minutes, the eagles gave up and flew off.  I'm sure all three birds were exhausted!

[R&W Sumner]

I'm surprised they gave up so easily.  I've seen eagles continue to dive until a duck (or alcid) is so exhausted it can't dive anymore.  Then they simply pluck their meal from the water.  I've puzzled over the fact that some ducks fly away and usually escape; while others continue to dive until they're done for.

Wally S.

On 4/24/2013 9:39 PM, Jessica Costa wrote:

Watched two adult bald eagles circle and dive at a wood duck on Highland Lake, Falmouth this evening.  The wood duck was calling in alarm and managed to effectively evade their attacks by repeatedly bobbing under water, even when both eagles starting swooping in more and more frequently.  I have to say I was pretty impressed by the wood duck.  After a few minutes, the eagles gave up and flew off.  I'm sure all three birds were exhausted! --
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[Susan Guare]

Maybe some species of duck take off too slowly to escape from a predator, so diving is their defense?  Can you recall the species that flew?

[Chuck Homler]

I have seen Mallards, Blacks, CoGo, Common Merganser and Gw teals fly away from inbound Eagles at Sanford Sewerage Ponds.  

I saw a Peregrine swoop in in a great cormorant and he dove.  

Chuck 

Sent from my iPhone... So please forgive typographical errors, message brevity and any strange word choices my phone decides were better than what I actually typed.

[RALPH ELDRIDGE]

After witnessing many hundreds of Eagle attacks, I'm not especially
surprised by the Wood Duck/Eagle incident.

Eagles are only successful about once in sixteen attacks so the prey
has a good chance if it can hold out.
Younger eagles tend to execute the most attacks, whether because of
hunger, inexperience or poor skills.
Mature eagles tend to conserve energy by breaking off unsuccessful
attacks quite quickly. Often they will perch in the vicinity, watching
for another opportunity at the missed prey. Mature eagles are also
likely better at recognizing when prey is too strong and a kill is
unlikely.

In spite of popular belief, eagles can not lift much weight. A typical
male can manage about 1.5 pounds. A big female would struggle to lift
3 pounds. So it's easy to see why RB Mergansers (max. 3 lbs.) and Ring
Billed Gulls (1.5 lbs.) are staple winter foods.
Although I've seen eagles lift Cormorants (3-5 lbs.) and flap/drag
Loons (5-15 lbs.), the Wood Duck was perfect sized prey.

[R&W Sumner]

I've seen most species of diving ducks fly upon the approach of an eagle.  They usually split long before the eagle gets within striking distance.  Dabbling ducks fly of course, but one time I saw a flock of Mallards take off just before the eagle arrived.  He had his pick of the flock.  He made it look easy, tilting and swooping down through the middle of the flock and making a "one-handed" snatch.

Wally S.