Nature is awesome. And this piece of viral photography and video is a perfect example of why: photographer Kevin Ebi has observed bald eagles for years and marveled at their hunting abilities. But the expereinced wildlife photographer also marvels at the species’ ability as oportunists. They’ll steal anything they can get their hands on.
“They’re masters of something scientists call kleptoparasitism: the art of stealing food from others,” Ebi wrote on his blog, Living Wilderness. “In my book The Year of the Eagle, I documented bald eagles stealing food from crows, great blue herons and even other eagles.”
In this instance, the eagle tries to steal a rabbit from a fox who already did all the work and the fox wasn’t having it. The bird lifts the fox some 20-feet up in the air (see the video). And Ebi was there to witness it. The footage was taken at Washington’s San Juan Island National Historical Park on San Juan Island. Photographer Zachary Hartje posted the video to his Facebook page. The eagle eventually wrestles the rabbit from the fox’s clenched jaws. All the animals were survived, of course, but the fox had to go back to work after losing its meal. You can see the whole photo sequence, here.
