everybody loves a bluegill

[flfisherman]

where we fish there are a lot of ospreys....sometimes when we get 1 that is to small to keep, they still go belly up and in short time a osprey will grab them...well Tuesday we had a osprey show up and he flew around an kept looking but would not come down to get a bluegill so he few to a tree about 75 yards away,then about 5 min's later another osprey showed up and dove down but would not grab the fish and kept screaming and flying around in circles,this went on for 10 min's...could not figure out why he refuse to grab the fish...well then he went down and grab it an took off like a lighting bolt,when I notice the other bird came out of the tree an too was moving like a lighting bolt,he came right over the boat and that's when I saw it was a Bald Eagle and he wanted that fish,within 20sec's he was within 10ft of the osprey(the osprey had a 75 yard head start) I was surprise to see that the osprey was not going to give up his fish and did manage to get away with it,,bluegill must be really good to risk life and limb for 1,,,,I wish I would have had a nice video camera,this scene made the whole trip worth going,,,,we did get 10 nice ones,osprey 1... eagle 0......who needs tv nature puts on a nice show and no reruns

[NYHellbender]

Would have loved to see that. How cool.

From time to time I enjoy fishing north of Montazuma Wildlife Refuge. They have a number of huge Osprey nest along the main highway (5&20)
the birds are pretty easy to spot. There are also Bald Eagle aroud that area. I have only seen a few here and there. I talked to a ranger that was collecting data one day.
He said that they had been counting Bald Eagle eggs this spring at a total of 70+. The young Eagles would be mostly dark brown and the white crown would show up at around three years of age. So in a few years time The Bald Eagle population should be taking off nicely here in the Finger Lake Region of NY. I can't wait.

[flfisherman]

the bald eagle here is also building a nest,we saw him/her later come by with some branches,so we should see more of them...it was pretty foggy and we did not even notice that it was a eagle when the 1st bird showed up,but did notice it when he came by 60 mph and I am sure the osprey knew that was a eagle sitting in that tree and the reason he took so long to grab the fish

[shipahoy41]

Good story.

[Dutch]

This past June we was fishing at Lake Blackshear and saw a Bald Eagle chasing a Osprey with a fish...that osprey was doing some Ariel maneuvers that would make a fighter pilot
proud. This went on for about 30-40 seconds the whole time the Osprey is screaming loudly...then all of a sudden its mate attacked the Eagle from high out of the sun causing the Eagle to drive away from the first Osprey. Both Osprey's then proceeded to haul tail before the Eagle could recover and get after them again.

One of the neatest things I have seen while in the oudooors...it was like something out of a old WW2 movie.

Here are a couple of pics of the Eagle next to our camp (camp is on the right with the silver chevy truck) in the park and flying by the boat. I have seen 3 Bald Eagles in the wild this year...at Lake Eufaula , Lake Blackshear and Lake Jackson.
Attachment 139724

[Turtlebait]

My problem is slow thinking until all the unbelieveable things take place is over do I think dang I should have videoed that with my phone or took a picture.It great to see stuff like that.
Last week seen a falcon nail a wookduck earlier it had been chaseing a kingfisher.
have seen hawks get bullfrogs off logs,seen squirrels throw snake out tree,,list goes on and on.

[montagc]

This spring I had the kids out on a local lake, and we ended up fishing the lily pads. We were killing the crappie, and there was a bald eagle that would swoop down and grab a fish every so often within 100 yards or so. It would then perch in a tree just as close and munch away. That day started pretty bad, but that eagle and the generosity of another boater really made the day memorable.

[cubswin]

Ospreys and eagles are just cool birds. Saw a osprey dive on a fish the other night, and one of the lakes I fish there is a old dead tree over about 15 ft of water that ospreys and eagles use most of the summer. Interesting to watch them, how they sometimes argue over who gets the tree.

[prefers shiners]

hey guys......enjoyed your posts......I fish south Louisiana and my wife comes along with her camera.....we see plenty of Osprey and Bald Eagles and sometimes can boat very close to their nest.....thought you would like to see some of her pictures posted in the digital photography forum (in case you have not found them).....located here.....

http://www.crappie.com/crappie/digit...ds-no-1-a.html

[flfisherman]

( prefers shiners those were some nice shots,she does good work