Photographer Shoots Epic Battle Between Fox And Eagle Over Rabbit, And It Gets More And More Epic With Each Photo
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
How would you feel if you were on your way home proudly clutching your hard-earned food, when all of a sudden somebody jumps you, snatches away your sandwich and does a runner? You’d be furious wouldn’t you? Spare a thought then for this poor red fox, whose rabbit was dramatically stolen by a cheeky bald eagle on San Juan Islands, WA, just recently.
The bald eagle is a symbol of America, powerful, graceful and fearsome. However, quite aptly one could say, it is also known as a master thief, quite happy to steal food from others whenever the opportunity arises. “Eagles really don’t like to waste a lot of effort in getting their food, so they look for easy opportunities,” Kevin told Bored Panda.
“A couple of days ago, I captured an especially dramatic act of thievery,” he wrote on his blog . “I saw a bald eagle steal a rabbit from a young red fox. Even more impressive: at times, this battle played out more than 20 feet in the air.”
Kevin was on the San Juan Islands watching young foxes, called kits, play and hunt on the prairie. “A red fox caught a rabbit and was carrying it across the meadow,” he said. “I panned my camera with it to capture the action. Then behind me, I heard the cry of a bald eagle. I turned around and saw it approaching fast. I knew it wanted the rabbit. I intently trained my camera on the fox bracing for a split second of action.”
“To my surprise, the scene was even more dramatic than I expected. I thought the fox would drop the rabbit, giving the eagle an easy dinner. Instead, the fox, with its jaw still clenched on the rabbit, inadvertently got snagged by the bald eagle. The eagle lifted the young fox and rabbit into the sky triggering an even more dramatic struggle.”
That’s one feisty fox! The entire airborne battle lasted around 8 seconds, bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘flying fox.’ Finally, after realizing that this battle cannot be won, the fox gave up the fight and the eagle dropped it from a height of around 20 feet. While taking a pretty heavy landing, the fox showed no signs of injury from its flight. “It shook off the encounter and resumed playing with its fellow kits. I took several pictures of it after the ordeal and couldn’t find a single scratch,” Kevin said.
“I suspect the eagle thought that since it was a very young fox, the fox probably would have been scared by the eagle and would have dropped the rabbit,” Kevin explained to Bored Panda. “It was a very unique experience. I’ve seen bald eagles steal food from crows, great blue herons and other eagles. I’ve never seen an act of theft like that. But I’ve been a nature photographer for nearly 20 years, I believe every animal has a story to tell.”
“Images that tell a story — rather than just being pretty pictures — are my favorite. That’s what I work toward”
And what a story the eagle, fox and rabbit turned out to be! Scroll down below to check out the incredible and rare images for yourself, and let us know what you think in the comments!
Photographer Kevin Ebi of LivingWilderness.com captured the fight of a life time recently
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“Eagles really don’t like to waste a lot of effort in getting their food, so they look for easy opportunities,” Kevin told Bored Panda.
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“A couple of days ago, I captured an especially dramatic act of thievery. I saw a bald eagle steal a rabbit from a young red fox”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“Even more impressive: at times, this battle played out more than 20 feet in the air”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“A red fox caught a rabbit and was carrying it across the meadow. I panned my camera with it to capture the action”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“Then behind me, I heard the cry of a bald eagle. I knew it wanted the rabbit”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“To my surprise, the scene was even more dramatic than I expected”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“I thought the fox would drop the rabbit, giving the eagle an easy dinner”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“Instead, the fox, with its jaw still clenched on the rabbit, inadvertently got snagged by the bald eagle”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“The eagle lifted the young fox and rabbit into the sky triggering an even more dramatic struggle”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
The entire airborne battle lasted around 8 seconds, bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘flying fox’
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
The fox was fine after its flight. “It shook off the encounter and resumed playing with its fellow kits”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“I took several pictures of it after the ordeal and couldn’t find a single scratch”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
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There's a video at
https://www.facebook.com/zachary.hartje.1/videos/1787547854617503/
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It's amazing that the eagle could even lift the rabbit and fox. I have a friend who hunts with hawks and his birds can't even lift the rabbit. At least I've never seen them lift one.
The bald eagle can lift appx 8 to 10 lbs if everything is right. Airspeed, etc etc. if they have to land to get airborne anything over 5 lbs is almost impossible.
Bald eagles usually hunt fish not land animals. Even this can be dangerous for the eagle if they grab a fish that is to heavy it will pull them into the water. Eagles are good swimmers and can usually make it to shore, but many will drown. I've seen it happen when a eagle grabbed a fish too heaving and was pulled into the water. We used a fish net to rescue the eagle and take it to shore so it could dry out it's wings/feathers and get airborne again.
You ever been to the Canyon of the Eagles?
Are you talking about the one in Texas?
No, I haven't been to it, but since we spend a couple of months in Texas every winter we have been talking about going there.
I have a pair of nesting bald eagles on my property. They come here in the winter and fish the lake. (Table Rock Lake) it' a beautiful sight every year...They are usually gone by the end of March or so.
I am. It is one of two(?) bald eagle sanctuaries to my knowledge. Plus, there are alligator gar in the rivers in that area of Texas. Those are some crazy Jurassic looking fish.
It's a beautiful area and the lake is loaded with fish.
I was on the Trinity River in Texas and saw a guy catch a gar...LOL, damn that this was huge and ugly...
They are kind of scary looking. Teeth sticking out the side of their mouth. They're like freshwater barracuda IMO.
Yeah, that area is beautiful. I have a friend who lived not far from there, so we'd bop down there periodically for couple days.
Awesome shots.
The wingspan and talons on that eagle are very impressive.
I wonder how the battle would have went if it were the adult fox and not the kit...
I wonder if the eagle would have attempted to make the snatch from an adult fox.
Amazing photos...
That is pretty awesome. I once saw a cat kill an owl that had swooped down and grabbed a mouse. It ate both. Parts of anyway.
This tops that for sure though.
Where I live the owls eat the cats.
This eagle made the mistake of his life attacking a wolf...End of eagle.
Holy.... F!!
Don't screw with a wolf!
This is an amazing sequence of photos with the eagle stealing the rabbit from the fox...
Once in a lifetime for the photographer .
Excellent article.