The ring-billed gull caught a fish a mite too big for his beak…
fish
TagJordan Lake Neighborhood: Weight??? 07/11/2019
How much weight for your mass can you carry? And fly, at the same time?
This male osprey weighs about 3 to 3.5 pounds.
The largemouth bass weighs about 2 pounds.
It is utterly mind-bending every time I see an osprey fly past with a large fish.
Think on it: I couldn’t walk up a hill carrying more than half my own weight. Hmm…
Jordan Lake 2-year-old bald eagle slideshow and photo 10/11/2018
I watched this 2-year-old eagle proudly head toward a tree to perch and eat his fish.
He had the fish, and then, well, he didn’t!
JL Neighborhood: Fish! 7 photos 1 video 05-07-2017
The water and wind was rough this morning.
In the early light I could see the bright flash of scales and fins where the water rushed up against the shore.
In the waves was a school of American shad fingerlings chasing food and being chased by the bigger fish who were also looking for food.
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!
silent escape
At this point in the herring gull melee, the fish was the only one with his mouth closed and silent.
The lowest herring gull, on the left, is the one who caught the fish and then dropped it.
Ultimately, the fish won this round, after actually bouncing off the surface of the river and then diving for safety.
