Bald Eagle and buzzards on a carcass pile

[Howard Roark]

Our landowner caught and killed 20 hogs this week. Today he had 9 hogs in the pig brig and couldn’t drive to the property so I agreed to take care of the pigs.

Driving in the field where the 20 carcasses were dumped a si glue eagle flew out of the field, through the woods and back over in the field. It was an impressive sight.

After taking care of the hogs and leaving the property there were 40+ buzzards that flew off from the carcasses.

My assumption is when an eagle is eating buzzards will not approach to feed.

Thoughts.

 

[GeorgiaBob]

Eagles are not generally friendly with buzzards. The Bald Eagle is much better equipped with offensive weaponry than any vulture or buzzard. You might be right!

 

[NCHillbilly]

Buddy of mine who moved to Sitka, Alaska last year sent me a video yesterday of about 75 bald eagles feeding on a humpback whale carcass.

 

[Nicodemus]

Down here in Southwest Georgia the buzzards keep their distance till the eagle has its fill. After it leaves only then will they come in for leftovers.

 

[Spotlite]

From what little I know about either and can remember from a birds of prey special on the National Geographic channel here while back - Eagles and Buzzard are opportunist. The Eagle has a stronger beak and talons and can tear open a carcass easier than a Buzzard can.

One on one the Eagle has no competition from a Buzzard in a fight, A group of Buzzards can push an Eagle off a carcass if there are enough of them. But they’ll wait until the Eagle has torn it open for them. Most times they know the Eagle will fill up and be gone soon.

 

[Batjack]

What was it Teddy said of the bald eagle? ... Oh yeah, "Nothing but a dandified buzzard."

 

[Swamprat]

Many years ago we did a survey for mitigation land for a LARGE central FL company. Another large conservation org was involved with it wanting to be converted back to natural before it became a cattle ranch a few generations back, several thousand acres.

Anyway we had permission to shoot any and all hogs but just leave them lay.

We would have a dead hog out in a pasture with buzzards on it and since the property was on a good size lake it had a bunch of eagles who nested there, eagle would come in to the kill and the buzzards would scatter out in deference to the eagle.

Eagles are opportunist feeders.

 

[Jim Baker]

Our landowner caught and killed 20 hogs this week. Today he had 9 hogs in the pig brig and couldn’t drive to the property so I agreed to take care of the pigs.

Driving in the field where the 20 carcasses were dumped a si glue eagle flew out of the field, through the woods and back over in the field. It was an impressive sight.

After taking care of the hogs and leaving the property there were 40+ buzzards that flew off from the carcasses.

My assumption is when an eagle is eating buzzards will not approach to feed.

Thoughts.

Several years ago we saw 2 Bald Eagles feeding on a carcass on the side of the road. They were 7 or 8 buzzards standing 10 or 15 feet away waiting their turn. It was obvious the buzzards were intimidated.
And the eagles never moved away from the carcass as we passed them.

Never realized how much larger than a buzzard.

 

[Wanderlust]

What was it Teddy said of the bald eagle? ... Oh yeah, "Nothing but a dandified buzzard."

I call them piebald buzzards.

 

[Nicodemus]

Several years ago we saw 2 Bald Eagles feeding on a carcass on the side of the road. They were 7 or 8 buzzards standing 10 or 15 feet away waiting their turn. It was obvious the buzzards were intimidated.
And the eagles never moved away from the carcass as we passed them.

Never realized how much larger than a buzzard.

A mature eagle hen is a sho-nuff whopper of a bird with a huge wingspan.

 

[earlthegoat2]

I saw a baldy just the other day swoop down and grab a dead squirrel off the road.

Pretty cool to see even if it was just for a piece of carrion.

 

[Silver Britches]

@Howard Roark I posted this last year. https://forum.gon.com/threads/bald-eagle-southeastern-georgia.1026503/ It may be rare for buzzards and eagles to feed together, but that eagle was right there at that hog with those buzzards. That was pretty cool to see. Haven’t seen him since.

 

[harrison jd]

Some years ago I worked on freight trains and often around lake lockloosa in fl I would see bald eagles and buzzards eating together on various carrion between the rails of track. Imo an eagle is just a buzzard of another color. There ive said it.

 

[HarryO45]

Go to a dump in Alaska and you will see the biggest bald eagles you have ever seen.

 

[bfriendly]

Had a trail cam photo with a baldy on deer entrails the day after we dumped it. The baldy was on it and 3 or 4 buzzards were about 10’away waiting their turn. Growing up, every photo or video I saw of a bald eagle made me think they were the king of catching fish! I don’t really care much for them anymore…..kinda like the Teddy Roosevelt attitude.