The killing at Spanish Banks

Yesterday we were at the beach at Spanish Banks, just enjoying the sun and sand like we have done several times this summer. While we’re sitting there, I all of a sudden notice this black cormorant sitting in the sand below us. I thought it was strange, because I’ve never seen cormorants there. There are lots of them around the water in Vancouver, but they usually hang out where the inlet is deeper and they can dive for fish.

A few minutes after I noticed the cormorant, a bald eagle landed right next to it. For a moment I didn’t understand what was going to happen, I just thought it was odd how the birds were sitting so close together. Then I realized that the eagle was eyeing the cormorant the way any predator would eye its prey, and that the cormorant was not even attempting to get away. The cormorant was clearly injured, or sick, and the eagle knew it and had known it just by watching from whatever perch it had up in the tall trees across the road from the beach.

Then, casually, the eagle jumped up on the cormorant, pushing it into the wet sand and shallow water. The cormorant struggled, but only very feebly. The eagle had one of its talons placed on its head and was holding it down without any obvious effort.

The eagle held the other bird down for less than a minute before it started tearing at the black-feathered body. Whether the cormorant was dead by then or just almost dead, I don’t know. There was no more movement from it anyway.

There were quite a few people on the beach, but everyone kept a rather respectful distance. Many of us had seen the eagle kill the cormorant, and I think most of us were just kind of stunned at the casual ease with which the eagle had killed and proceeded to eat its victim. It wasn’t a cruel scene, really, just so striking because it happened so quickly and casually. If you’re sick and injured and a predator finds you, you don’t last long. Then you’re no longer a cormorant, but food.

The eagle took about 45 minutes to finish its meal, and then left the remains for the crows that turned up towards the end. Even they had kept their distance until then.

This post was originally posted at my personal blog: Kids. Food. Life.