Golden Eagle Still After Pheasants in Iowa Co.

[Jim Forde]

 This morning I returned to the Iowa River Corridor to see if the juv. GOLDEN EAGLE was still around and it was. But I didn't expect it to be doing the very same thing again!
The eagle altered between perching and short flights but eventually landed next to a flock of pheasants in the same sparse cover as previously. Again it bogged down and
pheasants flew in every direction. But this time there were more roosters so maybe all were different pheasants. Odd to think such a formidable predator is so inept, unless it's just playing around. Anyway, the eagle was easily identifiable in the air but not so much when perched, unless well lit. I was at the top of the hill west of address 1816 on F15 and the eagle was at the distant tree line south.

  Again, I failed to find a Northern Shrike which are usually present at the Corridor. Eurasian Tree Sparrows were common at feeders, tho.

                                                                                                                                                           Jim Forde
                                                                                                                                                           Cedar Rapids


  

[timothy.barksdale]

I suspect this young eagle is trying a variation on "playing Possum". If it is land near by a flock I suspect it is attempting to get a No Response from them. It may have learned that in a direct flying assault, the Pheasants simply scatter and leave rapidly to all directions.

Young Golden Eagles are very smart and very capable. I've watched them attempt to drive a doe and fawn off a short cliff and harass Bighorn Sheep too. They are swift and stealthy. If this eagle is alive today after the intense cold, It is doing fine and perhaps has found a "steadier"supply of food in another manner. This is likely a deadly game, and if one of the Pheasants falters, it is likely to find how quickly Golden Eagles can move on the ground. Failing to secure food in this manner may teach the eagle that Pheasants can take off very rapidly and move powerfully over short distances. Eagles often hunt prey like this in pairs. One goes in as the distraction the prey flushes while the other flies in from a totally different direction and makes the kill. then both share.

Tim Barksdale

Choteau, MT 59422

[Timothy Barksdale]

Sharing takes on a slightly different context if you are an eagle, but none the less is it sharing.

For instance, both Bald Eagles and Golden Eagles over winter in Montana. In some cases, pairs will remain on or near breeding territory all year (mostly Bald Eagles). Any source of large amounts of meat- such as an Elk roadkill becomes a group feeding where the carcass is “shared”.  This sharing goes beyond a single species too. The location of the roadkill - forested area, open prairie area, etc- also effects the composition as well as the number of birds attracted to these food sources.

In filming raptors, I’ve seen many instances of pair “affection”  from Buteos to eagles and even (especially) those Parrots we call falcons…:)

I filmed the final chapter of a Canada Goose’s life due to a Bald Eagle female drowning it. Unfortunately, that 8-12 pound bird went to waste in that circumstance. But it had been severely injured a few days earlier when the pair of eagles engaged in cooperative hunting. While the female made the actual, final passes and eventual kill, the adult male was near by observing. He did not have the bulk to deal with that large of a goose, so he stayed safe, having played his role. After the female fed up, he would have eaten his fill too and she may have well been siting on the ice within a few feet of him with no reaction. This pair nests annually in the Teton River drainage, and hunt at Eureka Reservoir below my home nearly daily, at times.

The feeding scrums on fish near our Mississippi Dams are examples of non-pair bonded birds. So they resemble melees not cooperative feeding.

But the Golden Eagle in Iowa sounds like it was trying to land close, pretend it was just a big Pheasant and either walk in closer for a kill or wait until a naive Pheasant got too close where a single, deadly fast,  "leap-flight” puts the eagle within talon grasp of a meal. I suspect it is a male GOEA and all is needs is one unsuspecting youngster who has never seen an eagle to make it work.

Tim

Timothy Barksdale

Birdman Productions LLC

Choteau, MT 59422

Birdman Adventures LLC

Mokane, MO 65059
Somewhere in Missouri :)

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On Feb 1, 2019, at 10:43 PM, timg...@mediacombb.net wrote:

Hi Tim,

Thanks so much for the insight. It is remarkable to me that the eagles will hunt cooperatively and then share in the kill. Do other birds of prey exhibit this type of behavior?

Tim Garner

Ames, IA.

50010

---

From: "timothy.barksdale" <timothy....@gmail.com>
To: "IA-BIRD" <ia-...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, February 1, 2019 7:42:10 PM
Subject: [ia-bird] Re: Golden Eagle Still After Pheasants in Iowa Co.

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