One of the most beautiful things I've ever seen was two eagles in a courtship flight. They circle on an updraft together, round and round, letting the air current glide them so high on out-stretched wings. Then, when they've gone high enough, one of them turns over ~ literally on it's back in mid-flight ~ and grabs the other one's feet, and together they spiral and tumble down. They don't fall too low and regain their flight well before hitting the trees, but it's so playful and LOOKS like they are loving each other! People used to believe that this was Eagle copulating, but now it's known they do that on the rocks and in trees. This paired free-falling is done for the pure joy of it.
I don't think any of us will forget the day we were driving out North to get firewood, about a car's length behind the car in front of us. We were traveling at 35mph, and this pigeon flew in front of our car, flapping his wings as hard as he could, between us and the car ahead. He kept turning around to look at us every few seconds, and we all laughed out loud at the funny sight! We expected him to get out from between the cars any second, but he never did; he kept flying in front of us, looking back every so-often.
A moment later, any questions we'd had about the pigeon's funny flight were answered. A large Bald Eagle calmly lowered himself on a six-foot wingspan and grabbed that pigeon mid-air, right in front of us! The pigeon flapped and squawked, but he was certainly no match for Eagle, who casually flew off to eat his meal.
Like many wild animals, they'll eat anything if they're hungry enough. We were at a friend's cabin and his teenage boy had been outside most of the day before he came running in, almost in tears. He reported that he'd put Peanuts (their small white dog) in the back of the pick-up so he wouldn't run off, and Eagle swooped down and took the dog!
Once, when we came home the neighbor approached us in the driveway. He said he'd had to come over earlier in the day and chase off two eagles that were hunting our cats. We've seen them take ducks out of the creek in front of the house, too. First I heard Eagle's scream, then I heard the duck sound very strange. I looked out the window and saw Eagle carrying off a big female duck, flapping it's wings and quacking for it's life! That was something to see, I'll tell you! Ducks don't go quietly, I think everyone around must have at least heard it.
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