Old School Aerial Combat...

Lake Tapps, Washington.

A local photographer captures the hunt, the combat and recovery of a few local birds.
The little duck watches as the Eagle speeds straight at him at about 40 mph.

With perfect timing, the duck always dove and escaped with a mighty splash!
Then he'd pop to the surface as soon as the Eagle flew past. This went on for some time. It appeared the little duck would soon tire and that would be the end of the little duck.

Look at the photo closely (or double click to enlarge). A second Eagle joins the attack! The duck kept diving "just in time", so the Eagles began to dive into the water after him!*

After several minutes the Eagles got frustrated and began to attack each other. They soon began to dive vertically, level out, and attack head-on in a good old-fashioned game of high-speed "Chicken". Sometimes they banked away from each other at the last possible second. Other times they'd climb vertically and tear into each other while falling back toward the water. (The duck catches his breath at the right side of this picture.)

A terrible miscalculation! The luckiest shot of one photographers life caught this 100 mph head-on collision between two Bald Eagles.

One Eagle stayed aloft and flew away, but the other lies motionless in a crumpled heap. The lucky duck survived to live another day.

It's sad to watch an Eagle drown. He wiggled, flapped and struggled mostly underwater. He finally got his head above water and with great difficulty managed to get airborne. To the photographer's astonishment, the Eagle flew straight toward him, and it was the most wretched and unstable bird flight he had ever seen!

The bedraggled Eagle circled the photographer once - then lit atop a nearby fir tree.
He had a six-foot wingspread and looked mighty angry. The photographer was concerned that I might be his next target, but he was so exhausted he just stared at him. Then the photographer wondered if he would topple to the ground.

The photographer's half-hour wait was rewarded with this marvelous sight. He flew away, almost good as new.

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* The guy on the tailgate is oblivious to the spectacle going on behind him.

This post was sent to me via email from someone who knows this photographer and I couldn't help myself, it was too good not to share.