Food fight: The moment a magpie merrily tries to steal a sea eagle's lunch from under its nose

By Mail Foreign Service

Unlikely friends: A bemused sea eagle watches as a magpie lands on his perch (above) before deciding he's had enough of his cheek (below)


It's a case of David and Goliath for these unlikely bench fellows.

With a wingspan stretching over a massive 2.5m, a sea eagle dwarfs a magpie as they share a small tree branch together.

But the pair had a swift falling out when the reason behind the magpie's seemingly strange decision to perch next to the world's fourth-largest eagle became clear.

For the smaller bird was hoping to scavenge the sea eagle's dinner.


After competing over the recently caught prey, the birds eventually agreed to disagree.


The odd moment near Wloclawek in northern Poland was photographed by Marcin Nawrocki, a 33-year-old computer engineer.

'I had been observing this sea eagle, which is the largest bird of prey in Poland and the fourth largest eagle in the world, over the course of a few days,' he said.

'The eagle was eating its recently caught prey and the magpie had arrived and was jealous that the sea eagle had managed to catch itself a decent evening meal.

'So the magpie was bouncing around the branches and the eagle was obviously getting annoyed with the magpie.'


Law of the land: With the magpie having swiftly vacated his spot, the eagle moves up the branch (above), making it clear who's boss (below). These extraordinary photos were taken in northern Poland


He added: 'But there was a great moment when the two were sat on the same branch and the eagle seemed to give the magpie a strange look.'

At over 90cm tall and with its powerful talons, the sea eagle's normal prey is rabbits, small deer and ducks.

'This eagle was not interested in the magpie to eat because magpies are too small as prey for the sea eagle and they are actually faster flyers than sea eagles,' said Mr Nawrocki.

'At first the eagle sat on the branch and cleaned its beak after its had eaten what it had caught.

'The magpie came to interrupt because it was was hungry too.'



source: dailymail