The odd and terrible destiny of a bald eagle found floating face down in Highland Lake in Bridgton last July, like the opening scene of an ornithological murder mystery, is detailed in a report published by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Although there were no witnesses to the eagle’s death, the suspect was identified as a slain loon chick discovered near the crime scene. Even though the loon had already received fatal injuries, this small duck had managed to stab the bald eagle’s heart with its slender beak, bringing the fearsome predator to a quick end. Bad. Ass.
After John Cooley, a loon scientist with the Loon Preservation Committee in New Hampshire, contacted wildlife biologist Danielle D’Auria about a dead bald eagle discovered in Highland Lake, the grim discovery was made. Nat Woodruff, a walker visiting the lake early one morning in July 2019, noticed it floating face-down. He notified Maine Game Warden Neal Wykes, who came out and collected the eagle’s and loon chick’s remains. The previous night, a local woman at a neighboring cabin reported hearing a “hullabaloo,” which Wykes assumed was caused by disturbed loons.
Despite the fact that bald eagles are no longer considered endangered, the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act protects them in the United States, which means that all deceased specimens are usually sent to the National Eagle Repository in Colorado, where their parts are distributed to Native Americans for ceremonial purposes. D’Auria and her team were given special clearance to study the bird in order to rule out the chance that it had been shot by a human, which is illegal and punishable by prison and a huge punishment.
The body was X-rayed to determine whether there was any proof that the bird had been shot, but despite a definite puncture hole on its chest, no metal was seen on the image. While loons, like the chick found near the dead eagle, are known to use their dagger-like beaks as a deadly spear to attack other birds, D’Auria was perplexed that a juvenile chick could take down such a strong predator.
A necropsy of both birds revealed that the puncture wound depth corresponded to the beak of the young chick, indicating that the eagle died quickly after the tip of its beak entered its heart. D’Auria notes on the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife’s website that the instance is certainly as bizarre as it appears, being the first to be documented in the area to her knowledge.
“We know that fights between bald eagles and loons have increased in recent years as a result of our eagle population’s rebound,” she writes in the blog post. “Eagle predation on loon chicks and even adult loons is becoming more common. Who’d have guessed a loon could compete with such a strong predator?”
Indeed, who.
Leave a Reply