From Facebook: Bald eagle bother!

This is actually an update of an event earlier this week, but I seem to have missed it both on the cams and on Facebook until I had a look on their site just now.

Here’s what the post said:

“Hi all,
The other day when both Stanley and Iris were on the nest feeding the chicks, a Bald Eagle flew over. You could tell that both Iris and Stanley were very attentive and not happy – they hunched down and called loudly. Ospreys do not like Bald Eagles! They steal a lot of their fish and and generally harass them. There is a spectacular Bald Eagle nest about a mile up river from this Hellgate nest, and the Eagles often fly over. This pair of eagles are very good parents, and they fledged FOUR chicks a couple of summers ago. This is extremely rare, but these eagles know what they are doing. You can see more about this pair of nearby eagles in Kate Davis’ spectacular book “Bald Eagle Nest: A Story of Survival in Photos.” (http://raptorsoftherockies.org/main.asp?id=book) We have seen a lot of aggression between these eagles and ospreys. So when you see Iris and Stanley look up and call a lot, it is probably because one of the eagles is cruising by. These photos show Stanley looking up and screaming.

Cheers,
Erick Greene”

And here’s one of the photos showing Stanley’s behaviour towards the eagles overhead:

This makes some headway to answering a question I made previously about what threats and enemies ospreys had, and what behaviours the ospreys engaged in to ward off such threats.