death spiral

Tag

By Jordan Lake: Practice!

While on the Haw River above the main lake, a friend and I watched a pair of immature bald eagles practicing the maneuver known as a death spiral. I managed to get one of the talon to talon grabs that the youngsters were practicing; when they get really good at this skill they lock both feet to both feet. This is a critical skill for a bald eagle to learn as it is part of the breeding behavior of a potential breeding pair of bald eagles. The upper bird is a 4-year-old and the lower bird is a 3-year-old.

By Jordan Lake Dam: Bald Eagle Death Spiral 02/18/2019
Bald Eagle Death Spiral
As they mature at the age of 5, Bald Eagles use the Death Spiral to determine the fitness of a potential mate.
The sky challenge is there to prove to each eagle that the other one is just as arrogant, assured, and fit as the other.
The eagles clasp each other’s talons and dare the other one to let go first.
The difference in the size of the smaller male to the larger female causes the birds to spiral around their axis.
Sometimes, the drive to win is so strong that the hold is not broken and the birds crash into the ground or the water.
Immature eagles practice this maneuver all the time.  In this case it is a pair of four-year-old bald eagles.
Death can occur.  These two immature eagles broke the clasp just as they got to the tree line.