Saturday, April 25, 2009



There are many great photographers in the world, but very few are as lucky as the one who took the following shots.

They are a once - in - a - life-time event caught on film at the New Jersey shore.



In this first picture, if you look closely at the white pick-up truck, you can see a man sitting on the tailgate, and he is totally unaware of the show he is missing. That bird skimming just above the water at a high rate of speed is an American Bald Eagle.


There is a little duck to the left that is watching the eagle speed straight toward it at about 40 mph.


With perfect timing, the duck always managed to dive beneath the water with a mighty splash, popping back to the surface as soon as the eagle flew past. This was repeated over and over again for several minutes. The photographer was worried that the poor duck would tire out, and that would be the end of him.


A second eagle decided to join in the attack, but the duck just kept diving under water 'just in time', so the two eagles began to dive into the water after the duck, but without luck.


After several minutes, the eagles grew frustrated and began to attack each other. They began to dive vertically, level out and attack head-on in an old fashioned game of high-speed "chicken". Sometimes they would bank away from each other at the last possible second. Other times they would climb vertically and tear into each other while falling back toward the water. The duck is in the water at the far right, taking a breather.


Then came a terrible miscalculation! the luckiest shot of the photographer's life, he catches a 100 mph head-on collision between two bald eagles.


One of the eagles managed to stay aloft and flew away. To the far right, the other eagle lay in a crumpled heap in the water, while the duck (probably laughing his butt off) survived to live another day.


It was sad to watch an eagle drown. He wiggled, flapped and struggled mostly underwater. He finally managed to get his head above water and with great difficulty managed to get airborne again, and flew straight toward the photographer, and it was the most wretched and unstable bird in flight that the photographer had ever seen.


The poor bedraggled eagle circled the photographer once and then lit atop a nearby fir tree. the eagle had a six-foot wing spread and looked mighty angry. The photographer was worried that he would be the eagles next target, but it was so exhausted that it just looked at him. As it sat atop the fir tree drying its feathers, the photographer couldn't help but think that the poor beleaguered Bald Eagle symbolized America in its current trials.


After about a half-hour, the eagle was completely dried out, and flew away, almost as good as new. May America recover as well.

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