The morning is off with a bang. We were having the morning cup of coffee and looking out over the front yard when the bald Eagle appeared--wham--on the lawn near the flag pole. We were thunderstruck at his instant appearance, and it took a moment or two to choose between the binoculars and the camera (sorry, it was the binoculars). He hesitated a moment and then took flight. It was then that we realized he had something rather large in his grasp. He flew effortlessly to the tree at the point and commenced his own version--I suppose--of morning refreshment. It took quite a bit of binocular gazing to even guess at the hapless victim. There were feathers--and we know the yard had blackbirds visiting--so that is our best guess.
The visit was capped in a most unusual way. We heard the alarm of a goose--and in came a very agitated goose right for the eagle. Most surprising. The goose won out in this confrontation--driving the eagle from his breakfast, and harrying him all the way toward the airport. We are now left with quite a pile of entrails on the branch at the point tree. I'll have to figure a way to get at them before they become a fly hatchery.
A most unusual beginning to a day on Treasure Island.
PS Two hours have passed. I love it when procrastination works! We now have a very large crow at the point tree finishing off what the Eagle left behind. Nothing goes to waste in the natural world.
PPS It is now evening and the remains of the remains fell from the limb to the top of the sea wall. All that was left was a beak and a spine. We can now see that this was a Coot. He was distinguished by the lure that was firmly driven through his beek--probably why he was in the yard instead of on the water. It was one of those worm lures--probably left snagged in a lily pad until our friend encountered it. Nature does have a way of weeding out the weak.
