OT - Nature At It's Best or "How My Son Almost Lost His Dog"
 

My son is hanging out at Lake Mead (near Hoover Dam) today. He had his boat
beached along the shore line and was letting his dog take a run.

He looked up, saw an eagle circling, grabbed his cell phone and started taking
a video. Suddenly he saw the eagle start to dive. He sent me this very, very
short (2 seconds) video which shows the eagle starting to swoop.

https://youtu.be/H2lH3Jtb9XU

Now zoom in on this image. The brown spot on the ground just to the left of
the dark grey area is his dog. The eagle was heading directly towards the dog.

https://i.imgur.com/utysN2Z.jpg

My son started yelling, jumped out of the boat, running and waving his arms.
The eagle pulled up and flew towards the mountains in the background. Later
on my son grabbed his binoculars and spied a nest of 3 eagles.

This is the one he was dealing with.

https://i.imgur.com/76rOCoI.jpg

I can't really say who would have won this fight, but my son's dog is
pushing 10 years old and weighs about 15 lbs. I'll bet he would have been
seriously hurt if contact had been made. He was just lying in the sun when
the eagle started to swoop.

OT - Nature At It's Best or "How My Son Almost Lost His Dog"
 

On 8/13/2020 1:47 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
....

I can't really say who would have won this fight, but my son's dog is
pushing 10 years old and weighs about 15 lbs. I'll bet he would have been
seriously hurt if contact had been made. He was just lying in the sun when
the eagle started to swoop.

He'd been dead w/ broken back/neck instantly...

--

OT - Nature At It's Best or "How My Son Almost Lost His Dog"
 

On 8/13/2020 1:47 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
My son is hanging out at Lake Mead (near Hoover Dam) today. He had his boat
beached along the shore line and was letting his dog take a run.

He looked up, saw an eagle circling, grabbed his cell phone and started taking
a video. Suddenly he saw the eagle start to dive. He sent me this very, very
short (2 seconds) video which shows the eagle starting to swoop.

https://youtu.be/H2lH3Jtb9XU

Now zoom in on this image. The brown spot on the ground just to the left of
the dark grey area is his dog. The eagle was heading directly towards the dog.

https://i.imgur.com/utysN2Z.jpg

My son started yelling, jumped out of the boat, running and waving his arms.
The eagle pulled up and flew towards the mountains in the background. Later
on my son grabbed his binoculars and spied a nest of 3 eagles.

This is the one he was dealing with.

https://i.imgur.com/76rOCoI.jpg

I can't really say who would have won this fight, but my son's dog is
pushing 10 years old and weighs about 15 lbs. I'll bet he would have been
seriously hurt if contact had been made. He was just lying in the sun when
the eagle started to swoop.




All the more reason to have a Great Dane. ;~)

OT - Nature At It's Best or "How My Son Almost Lost His Dog"
 

On Thu, 13 Aug 2020 11:47:16 -0700 (PDT), DerbyDad03
wrote:

My son is hanging out at Lake Mead (near Hoover Dam) today. He had his boat
beached along the shore line and was letting his dog take a run.

He looked up, saw an eagle circling, grabbed his cell phone and started taking
a video. Suddenly he saw the eagle start to dive. He sent me this very, very
short (2 seconds) video which shows the eagle starting to swoop.

https://youtu.be/H2lH3Jtb9XU

Now zoom in on this image. The brown spot on the ground just to the left of
the dark grey area is his dog. The eagle was heading directly towards the dog.

https://i.imgur.com/utysN2Z.jpg

My son started yelling, jumped out of the boat, running and waving his arms.
The eagle pulled up and flew towards the mountains in the background. Later
on my son grabbed his binoculars and spied a nest of 3 eagles.

This is the one he was dealing with.

https://i.imgur.com/76rOCoI.jpg

I can't really say who would have won this fight, but my son's dog is
pushing 10 years old and weighs about 15 lbs. I'll bet he would have been
seriously hurt if contact had been made. He was just lying in the sun when
the eagle started to swoop.



There was a documented case recently of a large hawk taking a dog and
letting him go 2 miles later. Apparently he didn't drop the dog as it
had no broken bones, just the claw marks on its back. The dog weighted
close to 8 pounds.

Back in 1998 when we moved to a farm we had a cat named Rascal who was
pretty big as cats go. I was standing looking out at the pasture when
I saw Rascal not far from the house, still in the yard.

Then I saw a hawk making a dive toward him. For some reason the hawk
turned away at the last moment and then made a wide circle and made
another dive. Rascal was ready and when the hawk got about 6 feet
above him he made a leap with front paws wide. The hawk immediately
turned away and Rascal strutted off and lived a long life.

OT - Nature At It's Best or "How My Son Almost Lost His Dog"
 

"DerbyDad03" wrote in message
...

My son is hanging out at Lake Mead (near Hoover Dam) today. He had his boat
beached along the shore line and was letting his dog take a run.

He looked up, saw an eagle circling, grabbed his cell phone and started
taking
a video. Suddenly he saw the eagle start to dive. He sent me this very,
very
short (2 seconds) video which shows the eagle starting to swoop.

https://youtu.be/H2lH3Jtb9XU

Now zoom in on this image. The brown spot on the ground just to the left of
the dark grey area is his dog. The eagle was heading directly towards the
dog.

https://i.imgur.com/utysN2Z.jpg

My son started yelling, jumped out of the boat, running and waving his
arms.
The eagle pulled up and flew towards the mountains in the background. Later
on my son grabbed his binoculars and spied a nest of 3 eagles.

This is the one he was dealing with.

https://i.imgur.com/76rOCoI.jpg

I can't really say who would have won this fight, but my son's dog is
pushing 10 years old and weighs about 15 lbs. I'll bet he would have been
seriously hurt if contact had been made. He was just lying in the sun when
the eagle started to swoop.

The third image is good for identification.
As a scavenger, the California Condor, while quite large, are more careful
than eagles in selecting a meal that cannot fight back. It may have landed
nearby and started pecking, but it is unlikely to have attacked in a dive.
In the moment, however, the size and trajectory would have been quite a
fright.