Golden Eagle Attack Ptarmigan

[mvjo...@gmail.com]

I was hiking in the San Juan Mountains recently and doing photography of Ptarmigan (Mineral County) when out of nowhere came a Golden Eagle streaking down upon about 20 or so Ptarmigan, scattering the birds in all directions. This was only 40 feet in front of me and as the eagle seemed so focused on the quarry, he completely missed seeing me. It was a chaotic few seconds as the eagle flapped and maneuvered in front of me and then flew away without catching any lunch. All I could manage was partial photos of the rapidly moving, close bird. Anyway, quite the adventure. It was an immature eagle.

John J Rawinski

Monte Vista, CO