Eagles can swim

That's actually not all that unusual. As an aviculturist I've heard of birds, especially pet birds who don't understand about bodies of water, doing the same thing. I saw a video of a parrot who ran out of energy while flying over a pond and landed in it. He did the same thing and made it back to shore.

It turns out that the same movements that propel birds through the air work pretty well in water too. So they don't have to "learn" to swim, they do it naturally. And remember that birds have hollow bones and many other adaptations for light weight, so buoyancy isn't a big problem for them.

Watch a puffin underwater. Their wings have been streamlined into better flippers than an eagle's, but they swim the same way, using an obvious flying motion. (I think penguins use their huge feet more, and use their tiny wings mostly for steering. Puffins can still fly.)
 
That fish that it caught must have weighed a few pounds more than the eagle could lift which was why it couldn't just fly away after catching it. I'm also sure this happens allot whenever a larger than usual fish is caught unexpectedly.
 
Fraggle Rocker said:
It turns out that the same movements that propel birds through the air work pretty well in water too.
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Well, actually, in the case of the eagle, no. Had he been underwater, he wouldn't have been able to swim with that technic. He was basicly paddling with his wings above the surface.
 
Syzygys said:
Well, actually, in the case of the eagle, no. Had he been underwater, he wouldn't have been able to swim with that technic. He was basicly paddling with his wings above the surface.
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So was the parrot. As I said, birds are very buoyant so they tend to float high in the water until their feathers get too waterlogged.
cosmictraveler said:
That fish that it caught must have weighed a few pounds more than the eagle could lift which was why it couldn't just fly away after catching it. I'm also sure this happens allot whenever a larger than usual fish is caught unexpectedly.
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Yes, I'm sure he could have dropped the fish and flown away easily if it came down to that.

A more skillful fishing bird would probably have a very good idea of how big a fish he can carry. Bald eagles have gotten soft since they were declared endangered and have started to find a new ecological niche as scavengers on the periphery of human settlements--and even inside the settlements, like raccoons and coyotes. In places where they flock they bully people into handing over their lunch bags. They're probably losing their hunting skills, like the more human-tolerant individuals among the bears, cougars, hyenas and other "hunters" who opt for the soft life on the edge of civilization.
 
The first flight of an osprey from the nest is normally out over - and, soon, into - a fairly large body of water; and they don't know how to get airborne again, besides probably lacking the wing strengh once wet. They hump it to shore, just like that. I had to rescue one, once, that got hung up in a thick cattail bed - it was one of a couple of orphans being re-introduced to former osprey range. Dunno if the parent would normally have bailed it out somehow.

That's a damn tough operation, to drag a fish like that to shore, though.
 
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