This reminds me of a poem by Raymond Carver, which I can't resist pasting here:
Eagles by Raymond Carver from Where Water Comes Together With Other Water (Vintage Books/Random House) It was a sixteen inch ling cod that the eagle dropped near our feet at the top of Bagley Creek canyon, at the edge of the green woods. Puncture marks in the sides of the fish where the bird gripped with its talons! That, and a piece torn out of the fish’s back. Like an old painting recalled, or an ancient memory coming back, that eagle flew with the fish from the Strait of Juan de Fuca up the canyon to where the woods begin, and we stood watching. It lost the fish above our heads, dropped for it, missed it, and soared on over the valley where wind beats all day. We watched it keep going until it was a speck, then gone. I picked up the fish. That miraculous ling cod. Came home from the walk and— why the hell not? —cooked it lightly in oil and ate it with boiled potatoes and peas and biscuits. Over dinner, talking about eagles and an older, fiercer order of things. Tim Gallagher Editor-in-Chief LIVING BIRD Cornell Lab of Ornithology 159 Sapsucker Woods Road Ithaca, New York 14850 (607) 254-2443 [email protected] ________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] on behalf of Donna Scott [[email protected]] Sent: Friday, September 20, 2013 3:33 PM To: CAYUGABIRDS-L Subject: [cayugabirds-l] Fish Story I just posted photos from this "Fish Story" on Cayuga Bird Club Facebook page. A local man who does work for me was driving in his large pick up truck down Lansing Station Rd. Lansing, near Cayuga Lake, a couple hours ago. All of a sudden a "huge, dark bird with big, broad wings" was flying very low towards him & the truck, with a fish in its talons; it dropped the fish on the road and swooped up and away. Josh phoned me, and I went there. The fish is a fresh Pike about 1 lb., a little over a foot long. We thought the bird might have been an immature Bald Eagle and we guessed that the bird felt it could not gain altitude quickly enough to avoid hitting the truck, so it dropped the fish in the road and flew away. Josh remembered that the bird was flying very low under tree branches that hang over the road, so it was low enough that it could have hit the top of the truck. It might just have come up from the lake with its catch. Earlier I saw 3 T. Vultures circling over my house. Maybe they will find the Pike which we left in the grass by the side of the road. Donna L. Scott Lansing Station Road Lansing, NY 14882 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: Welcome and Basics<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME> Rules and Information<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES> Subscribe, Configuration and Leave<http://www.northeastbirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm> Archives: The Mail Archive<http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html> Surfbirds<http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds> BirdingOnThe.Net<http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html> Please submit your observations to eBird<http://ebird.org/content/ebird/>! -- -- Cayugabirds-L List Info: http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsWELCOME http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsRULES http://www.NortheastBirding.com/CayugabirdsSubscribeConfigurationLeave.htm ARCHIVES: 1) http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/maillist.html 2) http://www.surfbirds.com/birdingmail/Group/Cayugabirds 3) http://birdingonthe.net/mailinglists/CAYU.html Please submit your observations to eBird: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/ --
