This short 26-second clip shows a caged Black Eagle and a type of elegant bird called The Great White Egret. At first, it looks like a hilarious scene wherein the egret watches over the eagle inside its cage until the egret tries to snatch the eagle’s meal using its long yellow bill. The eagle quickly responds to its meal being stolen by attempting to grab the egret’s bill using its sharp claws. Fortunately, the egret avoids the eagle’s potential attack. The eagle quickly grabs its food and tries to eat in peace, but who wouldn’t be agitated when you know something is observing you and planning to steal your food? Well, we think this is what the eagle has in mind as he tries to put his meal away from the conspicuous egret. A few moments later in the video, the eagle seems to have a trick up its sleeve as he puts his meal as near as possible to the edges of the cage, where the egret could try and steal its food one more time. Neither did the egret know that trying to steal from a ferocious bird of prey is indeed a huge mistake. As soon as the eagle drops the food near where the egret is standing, it stares deep into the egret and hopes for it to strike again for its food. When the egret thinks it’s the perfect time for it to grab the food, the eagle strikes almost immediately holding the helpless egret’s long bill with its claws— similar to how black eagles use their claws to swoop over and grab their prey in the wild. The egret flinches as it struggles to get out of the eagle’s claws. After the unusual fight encounter between the eagle and the disappointed egret, the egret finally gives up and decides that it should look elsewhere for its own meal.
Do Elegant Birds and Eagles Normally Compete For Food?
With South Asia as one place where their native habitats overlap, it is possible for Black Eagles and Great White Egrets to encounter each other in the wild. It seems likely that an elegant bird challenging an eagle for food anywhere in the world would not fare much better than this one did. Black eagles use their curved sharp claws to maintain their reputation as apex predators. This means that they hunt other animals, but no other animal regularly hunts them. It’s a fact that this elegant bird almost had to learn the hard way!
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