Golden Eagle attacks White-tailed Deer at Nachusa Grasslands!

[franmmmk]

Hey Eric, nice work with this whole deal, and congrats on capturing a truly "wild kingdom" moment......incredible stuff....I loved this whole story

2 additional thoughts on this eagle vs deer issue......

1.  this bird could be really hungry..... hasn't had anything to eat in a day or so.....hunger is a very strong influence in animal behavior, causing any animal to go outside it's normal comfort zone......
2.  this is a young bird....who is teaching it "the ropes?".....  I wonder if a wild adult GE would try taking on a deer, unless it was EXTREMELY hungry......maybe this is a young bird learning what it CAN take on and what it CAN'T handle......in other words, perhaps this particular eagle won't try this again?  (seems like some of the videos of GEs online taking down large prey are actually trained raptors, this is a wild bird)....

anyway, we'll never really know, will we?

which is why we go out and enjoy nature.....

Fran

[Avariest]

You are to be commended for your photography. Thanks so much. Folks don't realize how much of a predator these birds area. Some friends and I were sheep hunting in BC a few years back and saw a GE take a lamb
down. It happened quick too!.
I have traveled this area frequently, and hunted the area for over 60 years, never seen a GE, well I guess I must have believe the GE I was seeing, I had mistaken for a immature bald. Really unusual
for GE's to be in area. but again, all the big birds are regaining population, so they are going to hunt where
eating is easiest.  Example is the feral dogs/cats that are being harvested by these birds everywhere. Naples Florida, 15 years ago had no eagles, now there like sparrows in town, good supply of food, which are usually feral cats and the snowbirds pet poodles.
We also occasionally see a stray Pelican on the RockRiver, most folks do not know that there is a large
Pelican nursery in Aurora, IL on the river there, so guess they stray over the Rock once in a while.
Again, loved the pictures, guess i'm gonna have to buy one of those danggonethings!
Cheers, Avariest of N.ILL

[Greg Neise]

I was reminded this morning of a post on Joel Greenberg's excellent Birdzilla Blog of a three-way fight between Black-billed Magpies, a Red Fox and a Golden Eagle purportedly taken by a hunter in Montana using a camera phone. The photographer is unidentified.

[Dan Williams]

Fran,

There is a fairly large body of reports in the literature about GoldenEagles attacking and killing deer, including adult deer, in precisely the way that Eric's photograph depicts.  Arthur Cleveland Bent, in his Life Histories of North American Birds of Prey, Part 1, wrote:  "it can attack and kill many large mammals and birds...The list of mammals recorded includes deer and their fawns, antelopes, lambs of Mountain sheep, goats and their kids, domestic calves, lambs, dogs....

Bent writes of a report of a Golden attacking and killing a 4 point white-tailed deer in Arizona (its back was lacerated by the eagle), another description of a Golden attacking a herd of antelope (I presume pronghorns), singling out one of the animals, and striking it on the back with its talons.  Another situation described a Golden killing a Black-tailed deer in Montana.

As Steve Gent mentioned in an earlier post, Golden Eagles were, and are, traditionally used as hunting birds by falconers.  While the eagle Eric photographed was likely hungry, I believe that attacking a deer is normal behavior for the species.

[franmmmk]

gotcha, thanks!

Fran

[Eric Walters]

A few other comments might be of interest:

When I saw this bird, I just thought it was a 1st winter plumaged immature.  However after looking into it further, it's come to my attention that Golden Eagles can take 6-7 years to reach adulthood, with feather molting feather slowly progressing to adult plumage.  This perhaps shouldn't be surprising since Bald Eagles also take many years to reach adult plumage.

Using the 12 painting plumage sequence on page 17 of "Birds of Europe" (by Lars Jonsson), it's clear this bird is not a 1st nor 2nd calendar phase bird.  It's possible it's a 3rd or 5th calendar year bird, but based on these painting and the above action photos, this Golden Eagle is most likely a 4th calendar bird.  That is, it's 2.5 years old and in its 3rd winter of existence.  The diminished underwing white, almost no remaining clear white patch on the upperwing and the lack of a clear dark edge to tail tip all point to this age.  One can even note the second feather in on the tail is getting slightly dusky (instead of pure white across the tail as in 1st winter birds).  This feather is apparently one of the first to start getting dark, that being in the 4th calendar year.
Thus, this bird couldn't be considered a young bird trying its hunting tactics for the first time on something maybe way beyond its range of kill-ability.  In fact, it's more likely the opposite, that this subadult bird has had numerous winters under its belt and the fact it was eager to try and take down this WT Deer suggest it might have already tried going for other lone WT Deers wandering around that area.


Also, it's been suggested this bird attacked the deer due to severe hunger.  However, having done the CBC bird survey at Nachusa area back in mid-December, I can confirm the number of raptors present in mid-February is almost double the CBC total.  For Rough-legged Hawks, it's more than double (7 on the CBC, but 15 found on the Golden Eagle day).  This strongly suggests there's ample prey to support so many raptors and probably a number of small mammal/rodent hatches early this year to attract and hold an increased raptor tally.  Thus, the prey availability or any form of severe hunger is not likely a strong factor that drove this eagle to go for something this big.


Dan highlights above a variety of medium-sized mammals that Golden's have been documented as killing, although the White-tailed Deer in that list is by far the heaviest and largest one listed - it still amazes me they would go for such large prey.  I've not found anything in the literature yet beyond the 2 documented Arizona reports of Golden's killing a White-tail (in 1919 and 1985).

Of the various emails I received, two stand out as most interesting.  Richard Stevens (Director, Colorado Birding Society) perhaps speaks for what the vast majority of folks would have thought, "Golden Eagles attacking deer are quite rare.  I have never ran into anyone who has witnessed the event.  We even considered it a myth for years."

Robert Russell of the US Fish and Wildlife Service Division of Migratory Birds (and long ago of Gillson Park area birding fame) writes, "don't know personally anyone having knowledge of deer-hunting Golden Eagles; however, the satellite-collared one from pepin County (WI) spent about a week feeding on a deer carcass in western WI before moving north. We always assume these are left over from hunting season but don't hunters take most of the meat with them? Seems like a stay of 10 plus days (if I remember right) argues for a possible kill."

The other possible option would be this Wisconsin deer suddenly died a natural death and a Golden Eagle stumbled upon it right away.  But just as possible is the reality that a Golden took out this WT Deer!  Robert's comments also highlight how much food a single deer kill would mean for a Golden - to the tune of about 10 days worth.  With such a food supply bonanza possible with a single deer kill, perhaps Golden's are just being opportunistic when they make such a kill attempt as photographed above.


Eric Walters
Zion, IL

[illin]

One of the things that has come to mind after seeing this thread is the account of the "thunderbirds" attacking the children at Lawndale in the 70's. Does anyone think it possible that these were goldens? Here is a description of the birds

They described the birds as being black in color, with bands of white around their necks. They had long, curved beaks and a wingspan of at least 10 feet.

http://sped2work.tripod.com/thunderbirds.html
Could the golden nape be mistaken for a white band?
Here is a supposed still frame of a video of one of the birds taken on Lake Shelbyville days after the attack. It certainly looks like an eagle silhouette to me.

http://www.s8int.com/eyewit23.html
I'm sorry if this post is a little to cryptozoological for this forum, I have just always wondered what was seen. Seeing that they take can take down large game it has me wondering.

[Greg Neise]

he he he...I don't know about the story you link to, but the frame grab is a Turkey Vulture. The long neck, small head and smaller bill are distinctive.

[illin]

 

I guess I was wrong about the photo.

Reports of the attack ran in reputable papers when it happened. And I still wonder what it was.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5FcpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=KG4FAAAAIBAJ&pg=1104,301611&dq=lawndale+illinois+bird&hl=en

In this report the mother of the child attacked says an 8 ft. wingspan which would put it in the ballpark. If a eagle would go after a 150lb deer I could easily see one going after a 70lb. child.

Sorry if I am hijacking this discussion, it's just a theory of mine that I thought would tie into this thread. I won't comment on it anymore. I would hate to foul up this wonderful thread.

[Dan Williams]

A few additional thoughts.  When Barbara and I looked at Eric's photos, it was our impression that the deer in his pictures wasn't a full adult.  It's size (in comparison to the eagle) and the overall appearance of its head/jaw lead us to believe that it was less than a year old.  If so, it would be a more likely target for a Golden Eagle than a mature deer.  It certainly appeared to be of lower weight.

Several European authors (Ferguson-Lees & Christie in Raptors of the World, and Cramp et al. in Birds of Europe, the Middle East, etc.) make general reference to Golden Eagles taking deer, particularly younger ages, but without the specific anecdotal reports contained in Bent. 

The emails Eric received may reflect a paucity of actual field observations, leading to the disbelief or contrary opinion that Golden Eagles don't do what this one obviously did.  If so, then Eric's photos should cause a reconsideration of those old beliefs.  It is possible that hunters have reported such Golden Eagle behavior and were not believed.  Or, perhaps folks coming upon an Golden Eagle on a fresh carcass assumed that it was just on fresh carrion when, in fact, it had killed the victim before they happened upon it (and so it was, after all, "fresh carrion"). 

I suspect that many field biologists and game managers are going to take different assumptions, and a new  look at Golden Eagles and any carcass they may be feasting upon, when they are out in the field in the future.

[franmmmk]

"It's not typical, it's not something they're normally going to do," said Brian Millsap, an eagle, owl and hawk expert with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in Albuquerque. But, "it's certainly not out of the question."

"When they get really hungry, when things are extremely tight, they'll take all kinds of things," said Millsap.

from the article quoted on IBET yesterday, which agrees with the point I made a while back......as amazing as this was, I was simply trying to point out that it might not be typical behavior......I realize there's documentation that it does occurs, but this is on the edge of the prey spectrum for Goldens.

Fran

[Pambi]

I just joined this forum to comment on your astounding set of pictures Eric.  Your photos have reached England at least (via the DPOF Osprey website on Long Island) !   Golden Eagles are being persecuted in Scotland, as are White-tailed eagles.   Landowners/farmers don't like them for obvious reasons.

[Jeff Skrentny]

I just joined this forum to comment on your astounding set of pictures Eric.  Your photos have reached England at least (via the DPOF Osprey website on Long Island) !   Golden Eagles are being persecuted in Scotland, as are White-tailed eagles.   Landowners/farmers don't like them for obvious reasons.

I am not sure what the obvious reason is for persecuting Golden or White-tailed Eagles, to me all that is obvious in the above statement is that only ignorance and ill informed farmers/landowners could do something so idiotic.  Please, let's do what we can to eliminate that kind of thinking anywhere in the world, or at a minimum, let's keep that kind of thinking, and that lunacy, in Scotland, we don't need it here in the States, where one hungry Golden Eagle tried to take down an immature deer in a momentary opportunistic predation.