Red Kite Vs Bald Eagle

[LoveT]

Hi all

I've just been reading another thread about BoP identification, and thermals were being talked about and this reminded me of a thrilling encounter I witnessed just over a week ago.

I was at my 'second home' - the Hawk Conservancy Trust in Hampshire, and watching the 2.00pm 'Valley of the Eagles' display. They usually release two American Bald Eagles away from the site and let them come home. One of the birds came back quite quickly, but the other decided to take advantage of the great thermals that day.

There are Red Kites in the area (released by The Trust, but they also have visiting ones), and to everyone's amazement two of them turned up to give the eagle real hassle as it was trying to get back home

Sorry for the quality of the photos, but I had the wrong lens with me for these shots (as usual ). They all went up into a thermal together, trying to 'outdo' each other - too high for me to catch all three together, but here's one of them with the eagle:


Yes - they really did get that close:


After spending some time with the Kites in a thermal (and with the falconer shouting at it to come home ), the eagle decided it'd had enough and came back, and the kites decided to move on elsewhere

A thrilling sight for me - and not one seen very often apparently.

I just thought I'd share it with you all

Thea

[squishy]

WOW.

that is amazing

[Rob_D]

Nice shots - thanks for sharing them. The Red Kite is big bird with a 5 foot wingspan so that second picture really shows how big the BEagles are.

[Pete Collins]

Great shots Thea - thanks for sharing. As Rob_D says, they show just how huge the Bald Eagle is.

[nightowl57]

Good pics, we have kites over here all the time and they look enormous until you see your pics, the eagle must be some sight when it is on a thermal.

[Astra]

Great pics Love T.

Coincidentally we were at the Hawk Conservancy centre today and 3 juvenile Red kites turned up today to have a look at what was going on.

When the Bald Eagles were released they decided to mob the female (Cheyenne) as she came home and she was not impressed - especially when a Buzzard joined in as well!

Sorry about the quality of the pic - but you get the idea.
Cheyenne is at the bottom of the pic with 3 kites above her and a buzzard above left.



And a slightly better pic of one of the Red Kites to make up for the previous pic!

[jaykay]

wow, some really impressive shots between the two of you. I certainly wouldn't want to mess with the bald eagle though!

[Dae]

I always knew that bald eagles were huge, as I saw them fairly often when I visit my hometown in the states, but now knowing how big red kites are - it really does show just how impressively sized they are. What great shots! Thanks for sharing that

[RobinP]

Yes you certainly wouldn't want to get too close to this!

[Dutchess]

What a sight! Breathtaking. Thanks for sharing

D.