Predator & Prey

Aerial of Prince William Sound

This weekend my heart stood in my throat as I watched 4 bald eagles swoop down mercilessly on two baby merganser chicks (they're a type of duck) on the tidal flats. The mergansers were running so fast their bodies barely touched the water. I didn’t get in the way but I was rooting for those chicks. Get away they did, to my relief. I’m not usually such a bleeding heart about the natural way of things, but I couldn’t help myself this time. It’s just that I know those eagles have been gorging on rotten salmon carcasses and the leftovers from the fish processing and they weren’t really hungry and those poor little birds were too young to fly away yet. It is my belief that those eagles were just playing – they were fat and feeling lazy but there’s nothing like some small thing running to trigger their predator reaction.