[obol] An Exciting "Hour" With the Raptors

[Cindy Ashy]

Yesterday late afternoon at Yaquina Head, the ocean was kicking up white walls
of water hurling toward Cobble Beach and the horizontal rain came straight into
my open car window. There were no murres, guillemots, or any other birds
(except one small raft of surf scoters) in the water and I thought about the
fact that if they had been they would surely have been smacked against the
rocks with a mighty force. There were no murres on the rocks. I parked in the
pullout across from Seal Island which gives you a birds-eye view of the whole
south side and decided to just enjoy the sounds of the crashing surf and the
Black Oystercatchers calling to one another. Even though the weather was wild
and wooley, it was actually an atmosphere of peace and tranquilty. The gulls on
Lion's Head and elsewhere were mostly paired up and several were cuddled up
close to one another. As the sweet smelling salty air filled my lungs, I
started reading a book and had gotten pretty engrossed in it when a battalion
of vociferous gulls alerted me to the fact that danger had entered the area.
The peace was gone and the war was on. I immediately started looking for a big
eagle amist the myriad of whitish gull silhouettes against the dull grey
sky....and in my temporary bias for the eagle, almost missed the Peregrine
Falcon racing east....but I did catch it in time to follow it with my bins and
admire its graceful flight. Several gulls chased it but none were a match for
its incredible speed. However, even though the falcon won the race, it was not
rewarded with any prey.

Things calmed down and the gull pairs settled on their particular spots on the
rocks again. Looking at Lion's Head with the gulls paired up reminded me of
looking at a doll house where you're able to pull away the front of the house
and peer into each room through a cross-section of the house. Just by looking
you could see the little microhabitats each pair had chosen and why certain
spots are fought over...but I digress. I started reading again (good book). Not
more than 5 minutes passed when another commotion occurred. This time the
squawking gulls were even louder and reenforcements from the east put even more
of them in the sky. The flight patterns looked wildly chaotic....not sure how
they keep from bumping into one another. This time it WAS an eagle, a white
headed adult, attacking from the east and heading out as far as the SW Bluff
(we will be renaming this rock - it was being called Gonzo). It circled around
a couple times seeming to taunt the gulls but not seriously attack any of them
and then headed east. 2 gulls somehow managed to maintain speed with the eagle,
both swooping down on it from the top, one poking the eagle's head with its
beak. What a gutsy move. The eagle had nothing in its talons as it flew
directly by me.

After admiring the pluckiness of these 2 gulls and noting how disturbed the
oystercatchers and crows seemed by the event, I began reading again. Maybe 10
minutes later, the gull sentries cried the war call once more. Even before I
took my eyes off the book, I sensed something extra frantic in their voices.
Not one but TWO adult eagles glided smoothly by my car...seemly nonchalant in
their approach as if to send the message that even a gang of 300 gutsy gulls
weren't going to intimidate them....as they flew past Seal Island they
separated, one going more NW and the other more SW. The gulls went crazy. The
crows went crazy. The oystercatchers went crazy. However, neither of the eagles
were successful in nabbing anything and in fact neither of them seemed to spend
much energy in the effort. Perhaps this was simply a scouting expedition.

Even after 10 minutes or so passed the gulls were not settled down. They seemed
to be having an extra loud communication with one another about the situation
and taking turns flying circles around the area. I was watching all of this
with interest when another adult eagle entered the scene (probably one of the
same ones). This time it dropped down lower and circled very low by Lion's Head
in a fashion I've seen before the eagle swoops down to nab something. In fact,
it seemed to be getting really serious about attacking when it abruptly turned
and raced off in an eastward direction, rising quickly in the sky. I thought at
first maybe one of the gulls in pursuit had made contact but it turned out not
to be the gulls but a Peregrine Falcon (I don't even know where the little guy
originated from) that most effectively chased the eagle off. About this time a
squall came in and I had to close my window all the way...I stayed maybe 30
minutes more with no raptor attacks.

I'm beginning to wonder if we are dealing with a new adult eagle pair this year
with a new nest to the east. For the last 2 years, the majority of eagle
attacks have come from the northeast and were assumed by BLM/USFWS to be mostly
from a family of eagles whose nest is to the northeast. So far, this year, we
are seeing attacks from both the northeast and the east and I have personally
seen more from the east. But then again, it could just be a switch in their
hunting behavior in response to the fact that the murres colonized by Lion's
Head and Seal Island last year for the first time, including lower areas. I am
hoping to find some unique character about these eagles to track their repeated
returns....and figure out how many adults/eagles we are actually dealing
with...anyone have suggestions? I'm thinking to look for scars/other unique
identifiers on the beak, talons??

Anyway, the predator/prey war seems particularly pronounced so far this year at
Yaquina Head.

Cindy Ashy




 
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