I was walking along a pond in Florida when I watched an Osprey catch a fish. Just after the Osprey shook the water off with his meal safely in tow, a Bald Eagle rapidly zoomed in and harassed the Osprey for several minutes. They flew around for several minutes but the Eagle seemed to be the better, faster flier. The Eagle circled around and came up behind the Osprey with talons forward and snatched the fish from the Osprey. The Osprey is the more skilled fisherman but apparently the Eagle is larger and stronger. It was quite an interaction! Size matters!!!

Osprey

This large Hawk is unique in it’s ability to dive into shallow water for fish. The Osprey is also unique among hawks because their diet consists almost solely of live fish. 

Ospreys have barbs on their feet to help them grip the slippery fish.  Amazingly they are successful in catching fish about 70% of the time!  This one has quite a large meal in it’s talons as it flies away to have dinner.

The Osprey  is a large Hawk.  They dive for fish only about three feet under the surface so they usually frequent more shallow waters.  They are successful when diving for fish about 1/4th of the time.  This one dove, missed and was coming out of the water when I captured this image.

I watched this magnificent bird hunting for dinner and he was finally successful! That fish looks mighty tasty.