[NatureNS] Bald eagle makes off with gull; a common occurrence?

From: "Eric L. Mills" <e.mills@dal.ca>
To: naturens@chebucto.ns.ca
Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:51:49 -0400
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Eagles are quite able and willing to take gulls. They are notorious predators on Kittiwakes at 
some Newfoundland and Nova Scotian colonies. One very cold winter day - like this one - I 
watched an adult Bald Eagle on the ice  of Bedford Basin near a flock of gulls off Seaview 
Park. I was distracted for a moment and when I looked back, the eagle was crouched over 
one of the Great Black-backed Gulls that had been close by. One big hop by the eagle and 
it was all over for the Black-back. Gulls and waterfowl have good reason to be cautious 
when there is an eagle around. 

On 25 Jan 2013 at 10:19, Patrick Kelly wrote:

> 
> Hello everyone:
> 
> A friend of mine works in an office that is on one of the wharfs in downtown Halifax. A few days 
> ago, she and one of her co-workers saw a bald eagle hit and carry off a gull that had been sitting 
> on the top of the wharf. It carried the gull to the roof of a nearby condo unit, and I guess there 
> were lots of gull feathers flying.
> 
> Is that a common food source for them?
> 
> I know whenever I was doing the Amherst bird count, all the gulls on the ground at the landfill 
> took off whenever one of the eagle just flew from one tree at the edge of the site to the next. 
> Maybe this explains why...
> 




Eric L. Mills
286 Kingsburg Road,
RR#1, Rose Bay, NS B0J 2X)
Canada
e.mills@dal.ca

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