After two bald eagles get caught up in air-to-air combat, one crashes into the sea.
- Photography
- Nice Shot
An eagle is perilously close to death. What would you do?
Whether or not to intervene is a wildlife photographer's dilemma.
It was the end of a day of diving off Vancouver, British Columbia, where wildlife photographer and marine biologist Paul Nicklen and his two assistants were conducting an ecological survey. They were heading back to shore in a 16-foot aluminum boat when they came across a bald eagle struggling in the water—and being dive-bombed by other eagles.
It isn't uncommon for eagles to get into disputes over food and territory, sometimes ending up in air-to-air combat and, as it did here, one bird's watery crash landing. As Nicklen and his team watched, the eagle started getting swept out to sea in the strong current and became a target for the other birds. It was getting "more and
