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Lovers' embrace: bald eagles found with talons locked together on Bowen

These eagles had taken a tumble

Diana Kaile opened her Hummingbird Lane door at 7:30 a.m. couple of Saturdays ago to an unusual sight.

These two mature bald eagles were in an awkward embrace on a neighbour’s driveway.

Kaile speculates that the two were fighting or mating mid-air, their talons locked and they fell to the ground. Bald eagles are known to do a mid-air courtship display that can include a cartwheeling "death spiral" where two eagles, talons locked, spin toward the ground at breakneck speeds before pulling away at the last moment. (And sometimes they hit the ground.)

“The ravens were circling, also smaller birds, one raven waddled down the driveway, probably to attack them,” wrote Kaile in an email. “The raptor society suggested going out with pots and pans to scare the eagles, it did the trick.”

“They were so scared by the noise they rose up and as they did so, became unhooked,” she said. “Such a happy ending.

The two even did a fly by above the Kailes’ house to say thank you!