carp

Tag

By leap!

Today I got to watch something I had never seen before.
I was photographing a dam on the Cape Fear River when a fish leaped from the water –
angling up the face of the dam.
I then realized there were a lot of common carp in the frothing water
and some of them where throwing themselves upward.
I have no idea why, in the autumn (some do in spring migration), any fish would be trying to literally swim up river.
The common carp is an invasive species and destructive to the habitat used by our native fish.

to see a very short slide show go to https://flic.kr/p/MLmRjP

walk6990-10-04-16-10-31-01-buckhorn-carp-leap

By Hershey’s challenge

I watched, amazed, as Hershey the smallest male bald eagle on the lake set his talons and took this huge carp.
Hershey weighs about 10 pounds. The common carp weighs at least 2 pounds.
Hershey never got the fish more than 3 feet above the water.
He essentially crashed landed on the shore and flopped over on the fish.
He stood up, jumped all over the carp, and eventually left the carp on the shore.
This is the only time I have seen any eagle take a carp!