I am a big lover of ducks and am against duck hunting, especially when idiots just shoot them for sport and not food. Yesterday we went on a family walk along a river and flood plain. It was covered in snow and should have been very peaceful if not for idiots in camo shooting ducks on the edge of a protected wetland. How this is allowed, I do not know but how these idiots think this is sport is even more amazing. My daughters were getting very upset at the consistent shots ringing out and the thought of what that meant for the poor ducks. We continued on the walk against some protests. I figured I wasn’t going to get any pictures as the birds would either be hiding or flying by at a high rate of speed. This is usually one of the best places to see all kinds of birds and just then I saw a hawk in a tree next to our path.
As we approached the bridge to an island and flood plain we spotted many more ducks and they were constantly flying overhead to stay on the no hunting side of the island.
Right over this flood plain is a large unhealthy looking tree that is the perfect vantage for a predator to watch over the area. At that point I spotted an adult eagle and a juvenile.
The adult started to get vocal and very agitated seeming. I’m going to assume this was a parent barking out instructions to her child because just as the frightened ducks flew by to get away from the gunfire, she led him on a chase after them.
Eagles are not the best hunters but are great opportunists and somehow knew this was a great chance for an easy meal. Trying to follow the hunt was challenging at best but I was able to get a few shots of the hunt.
I thought I saw the adult eagle hit one of the ducks but wasn’t sure if it really captured one. When I got home and was able to zoom in on all my shots I noticed that indeed she is carrying a duck in her talons in this picture (very hard to see but web feet hang below her in this shot).
This scene was very chaotic and I don’t know that this eagle didn’t just pick up one of the ducks shot by the hunters. It seem like a good way to get free food which is something that eagles are very good at. Right after this more and more eagles started to appear all around and from multiple directions.
Shortly after the hunters had flown off they returned to the tree.
All of a sudden it looked like a family reunion was happening in the tree as more and more juveniles arrived.
The only other time I have seen this many eagles in one place is when the salmon are spawning. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a big telephoto back then but I saw more than this many eagles in trees all around the river. Salmon skins hung from all the trees like trophies. I’m happy they didn’t do this with ducks as it would have been more than my daughters could have handled. We didn’t get to stay as long as I would have liked but I will definitely be returning to this spot soon.
Those photos are gorgeous, especially the eagles and ducks against the backdrop of the mountains.
Baldies aren’t my favorite bird of prey — I’m on Team Osprey — but they’re still seriously impressive.
And I agree on duck hunting. My understanding is that wild ducks aren’t even good to eat — super gamey and lean, and you have to watch out for random pellets in every bite.
I’m with you on Team Osprey (Go Seahawks!). Another place I usually photograph eagles has an osprey nesting couple near by. The osprey catch fish and the eagle follows them back to the nest and tries to steal the fish or babies. It doesn’t end well for the eagle as osprey are vicious fighters and can chase of an eagle pretty easily. Crows are the bully of our area even for osprey. The only bird I have ever seen beat the crows is a falcon. The crows kept swooping on a resting falcon until he would take no more shit and made that fucker explode. The rest of the crows were OUT OF THERE.
Especially in the Spring I’ll see crows chasing hawks and driving them crazy because the crows are a lot more nimble.
But I’ll also see starlings chasing crows and doing the exact same thing to them. I’ve never seen anything hassling the starlings, though, so it only extends down the ladder to a certain point.
never understood sport hunting…i mean…theres perfectly good targets and clay thingies for that
kinda feel the same about sport fishing…if you’re just going to throw them back..why?
whats the point if you arent going to eat them?
(i mean…i know the foresters here hunt deer to keep the population down….but they do typically get eaten)
I grew up in a rural area with a lot of hunters, and they can be some really entitled, aggressive, negligent, assholes.
Every year, people in my town were getting shot, often by their companion. People regularly died, but nobody was ever charged with any sort of criminal negligence.
I’m not opposed to hunting in theory, as long as it’s not unnecessarily cruel/brutal, not wasted, and not affecting endangered populations, but a lot of the hunters I’ve met are just violent assholes.
(who absolutely will threaten to shoot you)
I’m not against hunting for food, especially if it is also helpful in population control. In Hawaii we had way too many wild boars and my family always hunted them but we ate what we killed. Also, wild boars are very tough on the environment and have no predators in Hawaii other than man. Duck hunting though just seems stupid, cruel and dangerous. Especially since these morons are doing it from a small boat in a freezing lake with a bunch of booze involved.
Agreed. With the exception of Canada geese (which I have a personal hatred of), I don’t understand bird hunting in general. It also just seems like a failure of sufficient conservation of apex predators if you need a waterfowl season for population management.
and that’s another thing, alcohol and firearms are another bad combo.
People should face a lifetime ban on firearm ownership for discharging a firearm while intoxicated. There is no excuse for that, zero.
And, if it’s anything other than a row/paddle boat, they shouldn’t be operating a motor vehicle under the influence either.
Hopefully they fall in the water and hyp out…
Interesting. I’d say the majority of hunters I know are thoughtful people and environmentally conscious. I think hunting can encourage a deeper understanding of where meat comes from and being responsible about environmental management. But maybe it’s that I live in liberal Massachusetts and most hunters I know are people from elsewhere that chose to move here.
There’s a big notable exception of my uncle who is an aggressive MAGA asshole. But he started here and chose to move to SC…
It’s crazy warm here so the lake hasn’t had a hard freeze yet. Today we saw around 50 mallards which is more than we’ve ever seen on this lake.
Great photos! What a scene to watch unfold there.
Beautiful