As you watch Bald Eagles go through their daily routines, habits, and flight patterns, you’re left with moments of extremes. Winter eagles can do a lot of sitting around. But it’s not out of laziness. It’s to conserve vital energy that will only be sustained by ample food.
This isn’t to say you’ll never see eagles fly around…some fly a lot more than others, but I think the wise old ones are judicious about it. They sit and rest a lot, and then go to town when they need to find something to eat.
So this leads us to the other extreme of eagle behaviors. In flight they can be powerful, agile, wickedly fast for a large bird, and when hunting, they will twist and dive, getting the perfect angle on a fish below…they make a final run in, feet hanging down, wings buffeting the winds and controlling every angle of descent, until they pluck the fish from the water in one, quick strike.
Many people love to get the birds, pulling fish from the water…it’s the ultimate shot in this action sequence. I feel the same way of course but I also like to catch them at the very beginning of their hunting run…and that often includes a dramatic wingover like this one. It’s a way to curb speed and direct their forward flight, downward, and ultimately in any fine-tuned direction they need to go. I think I have come to enjoy the wingovers more than any other move they make these days…I loo for them all the time and am happy when I catch one that looks this good.