I saw the avocets go up in the air but I didn't see the eagle until about 5 minutes later, so I'm not sure if it took the bird on the ground or in the air. It didn't take long to strip the feathers off and eat the avocet. The crows came to finish it off. Neil
ps photo taken from Hide 1
Mai Po Nature Reserve,
Hong Kong,
China.
05/12/06
Nikon CP8400 plus Swarovski STS80HD scope and Sw 30x eyepiece and DCA adapter
I saw a juvenile Imperial Eagle take a Pied Avocet in late afternoon yesterday (8 Dec 2006). It simply flew low over the scrape, where there were at least 50 Avocets on the water, and grabbed one as it passed over. It landed on a bund and ate the bird, leaving a pile of white feathers. The Avocets seemed unaware of the danger.
Richard Author: fneil Time: 9/12/2006 18:21
Richard,
Nice to meet up with you at Mai Po today. Sorry we didn't have more time to talk. I suppose this scene is re-enacted every day now so if the weather holds we'll see it again and again. Neil. Author: ajohn Time: 11/12/2006 12:55
The bird in the picture is actually an Eastern Marsh Harrier. Although the overall pattern of plumage is similar to an adult imperial (dark body and paler 'golden' head), Imperial Eagle would be much larger and bulkier.
An interesting bit of behaviour to see. It seems a fairly large meal for a harrier! Author: lmichael Time: 11/12/2006 17:24
I saw an Eastern Marsh Harrier strike and kill an Avocet at Lok Ma Chau on Friday 8th - the Avocet was swimming and was too slow to rise and evade the harrier which attacked at low level from behind a wooded bund. However the harrier left the avocet floating on the pond - too heavy for it?
Incidentally it was a different EMH.
Seems that leaving the mudflats may not be too good an option for avocets!
Mike Author: fneil Time: 11/12/2006 18:03
Thanks for that correction Michael. I didn't see the bird in the air but I probably would have got it wrong anyway. Neil.
Welcome to HKBWS Forum 香港觀鳥會討論區 (http://hkbws.org.hk/BBS/)
Image Attachment: imperial eagle.avocet DSCN9998.jpg (6/12/2006 15:26, 0 Bytes) / Download count 3200