Saw an Eagle swimming towards shore today. It was about 250 feet out, and it almost made it to shore before giving up, or it's prey escaped. Whatever he had was quite heavy, as he was barely able to keep his head and wings above water - it was swimming / doing overhead breast strokes at a very rapid pace for several minutes. Looked on youtube and saw a couple of eagle swimming videos, but this eagle was making an Olympic effort compared to those. Wished he had made it to shore... Rich.
Sounds like a cool sighting. We are truly lucky to have such a great saltwater fishery in our backyard, complete with all the bonuses that come with it...such as seeing an eagle take a swim.
Watched a bald eagle repeatedly dive on a molting duck. The attack was relentless and brutal culminating in the duck being held underwater until it drown. The eagle was approx. 15 feet from shore and proceeded to swim in the manner you described to a dead head where he dragged himself and his duck up onto it, then proceeded to have lunch. The entire episode lasted about 10 minutes or so.
Yup, saw a number of bald eagles yesterday on the west side of mid-Hood Canal. A few just doing the play or perhaps mating (?) antics and then one with a fish in it's talons. It was flying right along the water with a crow harassing it the whole way. Lonely fishing in that area yesterday but I like it that way!!
