Bombing the Bald Eagle
The Tree Swallows are taking turns sitting on eggs in the nest box. One flies in and the other flies out. The sky is full of swallows buzzing around, zapping insects on the fly. Oh, to be able to navigate with such precision….sharp turns, steep dives and climbs, they are aeronautical wonders.
Moving slowly across the sky, searching, seeking, majestically soaring, the Bald Eagle came near the swallow nest box in the birch tree. Swallows appeared out of nowhere, and using a high speed screaming dive bomb approach they took turns attacking the huge eagle. One tiny swallow dove in from above to the right, another from the left, one from behind, and all the while the eagle dodged, and turned missing a few attacks but most assuredly receiving others. A few minutes of this chaos and the eagle quickly retreated to a more hospitable environment. He was last seen soaring very, very high and heading east.
As I returned to watch the nest box I saw a swallow fly out, and the other one fly in. And the cycle continues.
Gail Niebrugge, Alaska Artist
