"Oh-oh," I said to myself, "Scratch one eagle." I had a spotting scope handy so I took it to the sundeck and anxiously focused on the eagle. I lost sight of him a couple of times, whether he went under or the inexpert handling of the scope was the problem I'm not sure.
I finally got the eagle in focus at a higher power and realized, somewhat to my surprise, that he looked like an elderly matron out for a paddle, with his head high out of the water, paddling a breast stroke with his wings. As time went by the awareness dawned he was making very good progress against the current with those powerful wings. It would have taken a good swimmer to keep up with him... if they could.
About ten minutes later he had swum the half-mile in a very bored manner, past a couple of curious seals, and was alongside the most southern Gossip Island sandstone spit. Then a couple of flaps of his powerful wings and he was on dry land; his talons still firmly in a 10 pound fish. So now I can tell my grandchildren... eagles can swim, too.
(Jan 2008... and here is a great photo of a bald eagle swimming.
This page was last updated on Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 7:52:49 PM.