The bald eagle is one of the most majestic birds of prey that can be found in Canada, Alaska, Northern Mexico, and the U.S. Though they were once on the endangered species list due to hunting and pesticides, they are now thriving after protections were put in place, according to All About Birds.
Now, seeing a bald eagle isn’t the rarity it once was. This could be to the dismay of local fishermen.
You see, bald eagles are opportunistic feeders. They hunt mammals, gulls, waterfowl, and sometimes you’ll see them sifting through garbage, but their favorite thing to eat is fish.
You’ll find the bald eagle, also known as the sea eagle, near lakes, reservoirs, rivers, marshes, coasts and other large bodies of water. You may see them hanging around the occasional fish processing plant or dumpster.
When they aren’t scavenging by harassing other birds for their meals, sometimes they can be found harassing fisherman for their catches.
One fisherman from British Columbia, Ashton Philips, found this out the hard way.
Philips was enjoying a quiet afternoon on his boat hoping to make a few good catches. And he did. He just wasn’t able to hold onto his catch for very long.
Philips saw a bald eagle beating his beautiful wings and flapping directly toward him. So, he grabbed his camera to capture his the arrival of his new “friend.”
He soon learned that the eagle was no friend, but a winged thief instead.
The video, which Philips edited in slow motion, shows the eagle casually approaching the boat. The footage is quite amazing as he looks like he’s flying right toward the camera.
He appears to just be doing a friendly fly through, then things take a turn for the worse.
As he swoops in midway into the boat, you can see his incredible wingspan fully extended. Then he opens his sharp talons.
He looks down for a moment, then snatches a piece of salmon that is laid on the boat and just flys away with it like nothing happened. When you see the bird flying away you can see how truly massive he is.
He just flaps his giant wings and carries the Philips’ catch far away.
Maybe next time Philips will take better care of his catches and hide them away from fish thieves like the bald eagle. You can watch the theft in action on the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Bald eagle swoops in, steals fish from fishing boatCATCH OF THE DAY: Bald eagle swoops in and steals a fish right off of a fishing boat in British Columbia, Canada. http://abcn.ws/1gBong2
Posted by ABC News on Wednesday, June 21, 2017
