A Canadian man was ready to come to the rescue when he spotted a bald eagle flailing its wings in the water — but soon discovered the bird knew exactly what it was doing.
The eagle is seen swimming near Vancouver Island, British Columbia, lifting its wings out of the water and swinging them back down with an audible slap, video shared on Instagram by @wonderfulremark shows.
It looks awkward, and exhausting, but it’s clearly working, as the bird slowly makes its way toward a row of floating logs, video shows.
“I thought he was drowning, so I approached him to give him a hand,” the man wrote in the post’s caption.
But as the eagle hoists itself onto a log, it’s revealed the bird has been hauling prey in its talons the whole time, video shows.
“Oh my goodness that’s a huge fish,” the man says.
The eagle wasn’t drowning, it was hunting. Or rather fishing. Either way, it won a hard-earned meal.
Fish are a favorite prey for eagles, and the birds are frequently seen swooping down to snatch them from the water. But occasionally they’ll go for a swim, experts say.
This can happen when an eagle targets a particularly large fish, according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. They dive down, sink their talons into the fish, then find it’s too heavy to fly away with.
The eagle could let go and find a smaller fish, but sometimes they decide they’re willing to go for that swim.
“It’s common for them to get a hold of a fish that’s too heavy to fly with…they can’t take off but they can tow it to shore, rowing with their wings,” former U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service specialist Mike Jacobson told the department. “They’re pretty good swimmers. They have thick down so they float pretty well. Occasionally they’ll drown if they’re too far from shore.”
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