The bald eagle that is our national bird has become well known to avid bird watchers for performing a spectacular aerial acrobatic called a cartwheeling, as illustrated.
It is the most daring and breathtaking maneuver when two eagles in competition for a mate or nesting site, along the coastline of Buzzards Bay, joust around each other in circles and then lock on to the other’s talons to twirl downward, plummeting out of control for thousands of feet. Many adult eagles fly so high during the mating season that they are barely visible from the ground, then make a lasting impression as they come tumbling down toward the ground.
The bald eagle’s sight is seven times as powerful as that of a human’s. Each eye is protected by a face bone over the eye socket to shield its vision from the glint of the sun from high in the clouds where the air is thin and the light is very bright.
As a high-performance predator for fish, the bald eagle comes down to the earth in spring when the anadromous herring come in from the ocean to spawn in fresh water at Halfway Pond, source of the Agawam River, to become easy prey for a gathering of eagles classified as a convocation in birdwatching terminology. Soon after the herring arrive, aggressive incidents of eagles fighting over territories and mates bring on a cartwheeling exhibition for all to see.
Last year a local landowner reported witnessing two males locked in deadly combat, having rolled over each other by lifting their talons in defense and then grabbing each other and beginning to plummet below the horizon out of sight. They were soon located where they landed in shock on the deck of a beach cottage, still holding on until covered with a blanket to rapidly take off on their own.
We are indeed very fortunate along our coastline, which attracts the fish-eating bald eagle, all too often stealing prey of our local ospreys. However, all of this provides an afternoon’s entertainment for Jan and me on the back porch of our Fairhaven seaside residence on Little Bay, a wonderful place to experience and share nature in my article and illustration in The Wanderer.
By George B. Emmons
