Happy Tuesday!

Several images for you today that will tell the story of what happened at the 16th Street Basin on Saturday.  The Ring-billed gulls are very adept at catching fish.  They are not very good at keeping them or eating them.  The eagles on the other hand are really good at stealing fish from the gulls and generally what I see is that the gulls tend to get what the eagles finally discard.

In the above image the little gull has caught a fish and I have several shots of it dragging the fish onto the ice.  It’s quite a chore for the gull as the fish is probably too large for him to eat because of all the competition from the other gulls but more important because there are eagles watching his every move.

Silly little gull now seems to be announcing to the world that he has caught a fish and he is proud of his effort.  Once I saw the fish on the ice I disregarded the gull and kept my lens focused on the fish because from experience I knew what was coming next.

All of a sudden the little gull took to the air and in the blink of an eye the eagle swooped down from his perch and grabbed the little gull’s fish and was off.  I have watched this scenario time and time again.  The gulls do the work and the eagles get the prize. 🙂

I know that this is a butt shot but what I like about it is the fact that you can still see the eagle’s eye and his catch of the day.

On his way with his lunch firmly ensconced in his mighty talons the eagle departs the scene to enjoy his meal.  What of the little gull?  He returned to the scene as if looking for his catch but it was gone.  So he would have to fish some more and hopefully still get something for his effort.

That’s it for today.  Thanks for stopping by the blog.  Enjoy your day and be careful.