This Rare Video of a Bald Eagle Attacking an Osprey Nest Is an Incredible Display of Speed and Strength
The nest is located on Hog Island, Maine, and is one that APP and Explore.org stream live video from each year.
The attackcame yesterday atdusk. With both Osprey parents away from their nest of three chicks, theBald Eagle sweepsin from over the water. One of the Osprey parents suddenly enters the frame in tow and ready todefend the nest, but it can’t match the speed and power of the eagle, which manages to snag one of thechicks with its huge talons before taking off.
“It’s an amazing video really,”says Steve Kress, vice president for bird conservation atthe APP and director of the APP Camp on Hog Island, where the nest is located. “It’s one of the best videos I’ve ever seen of eagle predation.”
But Kress also acknowledges that the clip is bittersweet. For loyal viewerswho have followed the nest on since the Osprey chicks hatched this spring, the news has beena hard reminder of the reality of nature—again. Last year, thepair of Ospreys, named Rachel and Steve, suffered much earlier on and lost all of their brood. With this year’s chicks—Eric, Little B, and Spirit, who was taken—being much larger and ready to fledge any day, it seemed as ifthey were safe from another eagle raid. “I didn’t realize they’d take chicks that big, but now we know they do,” Kress says.
As Kress notes, however, while the videoshowsjust how powerful and fast a raptor attackcan be, it’s also a good example of how naturalinstinctscan take over. When Little B, positioned at thefront rightof the nest, sees the eagle, he’s able to immediately recognize it as a threat and takes off for his first-ever flight—sooner than nature had intended. Meanwhile, Eric, located in the rear of the nest, hunkers down to blend in and become a smaller target.Such is theinstinctto survive.
The predation of an Osprey nest by an eagle might come as a surprise to many, but eagles are the ultimate opportunists. “They take what’s around and what’savailable,” Kress says. And thoughthe activity from the APP Camp located nearby usually keeps them away, in the end, “there’s nothing you can really do.”
The past two year's attacks could also point to a larger trend for coastal birds asBald Eagle populations continue to rebound. According to Kress, eaglesare increasingly attacking other birds’nests and fledglings, especially those of Cormorants. Even their merepresence on an island or around a nesting site is enough to upset the current delicatebalance.
As for Rachel and Steve, this most recent nesting drama at least ends with a silver lining. Not only did Eric survive, but according to an updatethis morning, APP Camp staffers found Little B on the mainland alive and well—with his parents perched nearby.