That's one way to pluck a pheasant: Incredible pictures show a bald eagle swooping to grab its next meal

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Lunch on the go: Chris Bailey captured this amazing photograph of a Bald Eagle making a meal of a pheasant


This pheasant turned out to be not so plucky when a hungry bald eagle swooped down and took it away for its lunch.

British-born photographer Chris Bailey had been taking some snaps of a brace of pheasants in the snow when the large bird of prey ominously loomed into view.

In one swift movement it picked one of the bewildered birds up by the scruff of its neck with its lethal talons and flew off with it.

Stunned Mr Bailey, 54, tracked the eagle which carried the game bird to a quieter spot where it promptly made a meal out of it.

Mr Bailey captured the dramatic moment on camera on the snow-covered fields of South Dakota, US, where he lives and works as a service director for Ford.

'I was out taking some pictures of ring-necked pheasants and I noticed this bald eagle swoop down from out of the sky,' he explained.

'I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

'He came down and picked one of the birds up, flew around and returned to the same spot and proceeded to eat it in front of me and devoured it.'


Catch of the day: The eagle swoops to prize the bemused pheasant from a snowy South Dakota plain


Mr Bailey added: 'I was worried that I didn't get the pictures at first because the eagle flew away from me with the pheasant but when I later looked at the pictures I realised they were very good.'

'We have seen more and more birds of prey go after game birds. They are normally fish eaters but many of the lakes have frozen over in the cold weather.'

The bald eagle - Haliaeetus leucocephalus in Latin - has a wingspan of up to 96 inches, can reach speeds of up to 45mph and can live up to 30 years.

Its diet normally consists of fish like trout or salmon but it also goes after small mammals such as rabbits, hares, beavers and deer fawns.


Meals on wings: This unfortunate pheasant was plucked away from its companions by a hungry Bald Eagle


source: dailymail

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A very unpleasant pheasant: Pensioner, 72, has to climb out of his back window to avoid bully bird

By Luke Salkeld

Brace position: John Tucker fends off the angry pheasant

When John Tucker prepares to leave his house, he picks up a great big stick and sneaks out by a back window. It's not yobs or big dogs he fears - but a very vicious pheasant.

The Tuckers are under siege from the wild bird, which sits in wait at the front entrance to their country home.

If he manages to spot Mr Tucker, 72, or his wife Carol, 64, he launches an airborne assault, chasing them around the garden and doing his best to draw blood.


Under attack: Yobbo has a peck at John Tucker in his garden


Over the past two weeks Mr Tucker, a retired ornithologist, has suffered injuries to his legs, arms and head. The bird has even charged inside their £500,000 stone cottage in Branscombe, Devon, to cause havoc.

Mr Tucker said: 'It's got to the point where I have to climb out of the back window as he's waiting at the front door. It was quite funny to start with, but now it's extremely irritating.'

He added: 'He hits my wife in the midriff and I have to wear long johns when I go out because he tears me to bits.'


Get off: Mr Tucker wears gloves and uses a walking stick to protect himself


Trapped: Mr Tucker has become a prisoner in his own home forced to climb out of a window to escape


An expert in bird behaviour, Mr Tucker puts the pheasant's antics down to territorial instincts - and hormones.

He said: 'I think he's either pumping with testosterone during the mating season and taking his frustrations out on me, or he's just a mad old bird.'

But he is reluctant to take his revenge. He said: 'People have asked me why I don't just make him into a pie.

'I did nearly lose my cool with him the other day as he was being particularly aggressive.

'I picked him up and thought "I could just wring your neck". But as he looked at me with his brown eyes I knew I couldn't ever do it.'


source: dailymail

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