"OMG. OMG!... Eagle!... Bye!"

That's how I ended the phone conversation I was having with my mom this morning, when I saw this eagle land upon a giant koi fish just off of our dock!

We were chatting over the phone and I was enjoying a cup of coffee, watching the bright blue water ripple in the sunshine.  Then I noticed the  shape of our infamous giant orange koi slowly swimming up to our dock.  

Several years back, a neighbor on a connecting lake decided to empty their koi pond into the lake at the beginning of winter rather than winterizing their pond... bad move, as the foreign fish were quite a detriment to our beautiful, natural lake environment.  Only 2 koi made it through the winter and one of those soon died off, but the remaining survivor grew HUGE.  It feeds off the eggs of the native fish... one of the biggest problems with this fish living in the lake... but I digress... 

Anyway, as this koi slowly swims by, a massive dark shape drops out of the sky and lands with a splash right on top of it!!  I stuttered and stammered, not able to process what I was seeing, but a second later it hit me... THAT'S a full grown adult BALD EAGLE diving in for the koi!!  What?  Am I watching some nature show?  Holy cow! :))  
Thankfully my camera was next to me (where else would it be?).  And I shot several images of the defeated eagle resting on the dock after the koi eluded it.  Even through the glass, and at a decent distance, the eagle heard my camera clicks and turned to look right at me!  

Watch the story unfold here.  I made an album of both fishing attempts, and placed them on flickr.  It was the best way to show the story...  (The first two shots are from my house - through the slider glass.  After that I was on my way down the steps to the lake.)


After a fluff and huff, the bird took off.  I was so pleased with my through-the-slider shots, but couldn't help but wonder if he'd try again.  So I grabbed my camera and took off down the stairs to the lake.  Half way to the lake, YES, he returned!  And I was ready (sort of).  Too bad my shutter speed wasn't higher, and that bush wasn't in the way for some of the shots, but WOW... To get to see him land ON the koi, and ride it as it fled for the shelter of the boat, was amazing!  (Notice the orangish color in the water under the eagle in the above shot... that's the fish!)  The eagle and the fish struggled at the back end of the boat for several seconds.  I think the eagle even went all the way under the water, though it was hard to see from where I was standing.

It left with empty talons... But I have yet to see the koi... I would image that the eagle is keeping an eye on things from a distance; ready and waiting to finish the job.

That's one BIG big bird I wouldn't want to get in the way of!

Oh and yes, my mom, a fellow blipper herself, completely understood about the abrupt end to our conversion. ;-)