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Just recently, a photographer was watching some foxes hunt rabbits. One of the foxes caught a rabbit when a bald eagle swooped down grabbed the rabbit and pulled both rabbit and fox into the air. The fox let go and the eagle took the rabbit..

That brings up the question of how much weight can a bald eagle carry?

Charlie Brumbaugh
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1 Answers1

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According to the Alaskan Fish And Game department,

"The wings of an eagle need to support the eight to 12-pound bird as well as whatever the bird is carrying, and best estimates put the lifting power of an eagle at four or five pounds. ..."

But as the article continues,

"Lift is dependent not only on wing size, but on airspeed. The faster a bird (or plane) is flying, the greater the lift potential. An eagle that lands on the beach to grab a fish, and then takes off again, is limited to a smaller load than an eagle that swoops down at 20 or 30 miles an hour and snatches up a fish. That momentum and speed gives the bird the ability to carry more weight."

This may or may not explain Amazing Bird Records for:

greatest weight-carrying capacity: bald eagle lifting a 6.8 kg (15 lb) mule deer

B540Glenn
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    Lands on the beach to grab a fish? Like one that's just laying there? I'm having trouble understanding what they're thinking of. – Azor Ahai -him- May 24 '18 at 20:02
  • Momentum would help with the force required to accelerate the object off the ground. However after that it would still need to have enough lift to carry on carrying - in this instance the fox letting go would help! – Wilf May 24 '18 at 21:54
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    @AzorAhai it's a hypothetical situation to illustrate the physics; it doesn't have to be 100% plausible... – Tin Wizard May 24 '18 at 22:09
  • @Walt Still, a weird example to pick. – Azor Ahai -him- May 24 '18 at 22:10
  • @AzorAhai You may want to look up salmon spawning. Naturally they beach and die. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmon_run – paparazzo May 24 '18 at 23:30
  • @paparazzo They left that out of The Magic School Bus. – Azor Ahai -him- May 24 '18 at 23:32
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    @AzorAhai Hopefully the series will be cancelled for that lapse. – paparazzo May 24 '18 at 23:35
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    @AzorAhai, Bald Eagles are also scavengers. If there is an easy meal available, they are more than happy to save the energy and eat something already dead. They don't limit their scavenging to fish either. – B540Glenn May 25 '18 at 17:15