Eagles can swim. Who knew? Apparently a lot of people. But it came as news to me. Well, there’s a first time for everything.
This footage came from Mallard Lakes subdivision in Baton Rouge, LA, and is currently making the rounds on the Internet. Someone in the area shot a nutria (looks like a cross between a beaver and a giant rat) and left it floating in the water. A hungry bald eagle was determined get it and displayed some remarkable problem-solving. A search of YouTube turned up several videos of swimming eagles, so this incident is not unique. But it’s still interesting to see.
The following video from Lake Minnitaki, Canada, was posted in 2009. This eagle’s butterfly stroke probably wouldn’t beat Michael Phelps, but it’s pretty impressive.
Being that Bald Eagles are also referred to as fish eagles and that’s their primary food, they better be able to swim! Cool video.
I realized that later. They eat mostly fish and they pluck them out of the water, etc. Makes perfect sense. I’d just never seen this before.
I’ve never seen it either. That video of the eagle swimming was neat to see!
PT, this is amazing footage! I had no idea! Thank you for teaching me something new today…
Oh, wow! Especially the top one. My eyes were as big as platters when he landed in the water and started swimming. Absolutely amazing!
That guy must have been really hungry. I was afraid he’d drown trying to get that meal.
Okay, the “fish eagle” thing makes sense, but still… This is so cool! 😀
I agree. I’ve always known they live around water and I actually spent an afternoon watching them pluck fish from a lake. And STILL it never occurred to me that they could do this.