Obligatory disclaimer: real life sucks, though many people are
still talking about the Thylacosmilus’ and its’ new ‘redesign’ instead. Fair
enough, but today we will be talking about eagles instead.
However, the eagles are a very varied bunch, so let us
choose for our sample bird… the white-tailed eagle. It is a very impressive
bird, and an Eurasian version of the bald eagle of North America; out of all
the sea eagles, these two are mostly closely related to each other, but some
people, (cough, the Russians, cough), aren’t very fond of this theory and don’t
talk about it very much. Next?
While the white-tailed eagle is a sea eagle, it is not as
specialized for fish eating as the bald eagle is, and actually prefers to hunt
waterfowl instead. For us, however, it is the ‘sea eagle’ moniker that is
important for the moment – it is a label that designated a group of about a
dozen or so of eagles as, well, aquatic, (or semi-aquatic) specialists. What
next?
…While the sea eagles are semi-aquatic specialists, other
eagle groups are not. For example, the harpy eagle of South America hunts in
jungles, while the golden eagle of Eurasia and North America prefers more open
spaces, period. That, and its’ preference for the West Coast over the East, are
some of the reasons why as to how come it’s the bald eagle that is the U.S.’
national bird, and not the golden eagle instead.
…Yes, since Thomas Jefferson, people have argued against the
bald eagle being the U.S.’ national symbol, but nothing has come out of it, so
that is that. What next?
Well, if the falcons are built for speed, (just like the
cheetah), and the hawks are more versatile, then the eagles are built for
power, (just as the lion is). While a falcon’s whammy can be formidable if this
bird picks up speed, an eagle’s version is even more so, and it needs less
distance and speed to achieve it. All birds are light-weight as a rule, (there
are exceptions, but not among the birds of prey, no), but the eagles are less
so, which is why their flying style is more of a passive gliding – they prefer
to soar on warm aerial updrafts for hours, (or sit on some inconspicuous perch
instead, cough), using their superior eyesight to keep an eye on what is going
on down below, while remaining less noticeable for their potential prey. Once
they choose a potential candidate, they swoop down and strike.
A falcon smites its’ prey in mid-air, often slicing it apart
at least partially. An eagle, rather seizes prey with its’ talons, which can be
big and sharp enough to pierce skin and flesh to the bone, inflicting massive
damage and killing it. A golden eagle can kill an animal the size of a red fox
or a grey wolf, which is why native people of Asia have trained it. A falcon
catches other birds; an eagle, (just like a hawk), is more geared to attack
mammals instead.
The downside for this is greater physical exhaustion when
flying actively, hence why the eagles glide and rest more often than the
smaller birds of prey, including hawks and falcons; they also are not beyond
scavenging – whereas the falcons usually aren’t found on corpses of dead
mammals, the eagles are, and on such occasions they don’t look very regal at
all. Of course, neither do lions, but anthropomorphic associations aside, it
can also be remembered that while lions have resolved their endurance issues by
becoming social, the eagles have not; in fact, the only modern ‘raptors’ that have
embraced the social hunting of their Mesozoic forebears are the so-called
Harris’ hawks, which are more closely related to the buteos, than to the ‘true’
hawks…
Well, this is it for now. See you all soon!
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