One of the first things an eagle will do after they pluck a fish from the water is to double check to make sure they actually got it. The glance down confirms the catch. Next, if the fish is small enough, they’ll immediately transfer the fish from the foot to the mouth…and often it will simply go down the hatch. Large fish must get taken back to a perch to be eaten, but there’s a risk in doing that…show it off too much and you’ll get pursued by other eagles…which is not a good thing when you’re the one being chased.