There is a broad, shallow cove on Owasco Lake’s west side (Rte. 38) south of Auburn, a bit north of Stone School Road, formed by Buck Point and curvature of the shore to the south. Adult Bald Eagles (I also saw a first-year bird a few weeks ago) tend to watch the lake waters from tall trees along Buck Point, and they fish actively as long as the lake is clear of ice. Today, I stopped my car and pulled over to the very narrow shoulder to watch an adult eagle swooping, diving, kiting — pretty much the whole display of having found something it wanted badly in the water. I saw nothing on the water, just a bit of submarine commotion and thought: a fish. I noticed several gulls trying timidly to harass the eagle, but the big bird was very focussed. After swooping and kiting for a while, the eagle settled into the water and stayed there, almost like a goose; after a minute or so, it lifted off with a dead or dying Ring-billed Gull gull in its grip and flew to one of the Buck Point trees to feast.
I think I must have missed the early part of the story, where the eagle attacks and hurts the gull in the air, and the gull drops into the lake. The whole drama would have been interesting to witness. Eben McLane -- 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/cayugabirds-l@cornell.edu/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/ --
