Imagine going home after a hard and long day with your hard-earned food in the bag, and then suddenly somebody just runs up to you and steals everything you bought, outrageous, isn’t it? Well, imagine how this poor fox felt after this sneaky eagle flew out of nowhere and stole her dinner? A photographer in San Juan Islands, WA has managed to capture this incredible situation, and the results are better than anyone could imagine.
“Eagles really don’t like to waste a lot of effort in getting their food, so they look for easy opportunities,” Kevin told Bored Panda.
Kevin was on the San Juan Islands watching young foxes, called kits, play and hunt on the prairie. “A red fox caught a rabbit and was carrying it across the meadow,” he said. “I panned my camera with it to capture the action. Then behind me, I heard the cry of a bald eagle. I turned around and saw it approaching fast. I knew it wanted the rabbit. I intently trained my camera on the fox bracing for a split second of action.”
“To my surprise, the scene was even more dramatic than I expected. I thought the fox would drop the rabbit, giving the eagle an easy dinner. Instead, the fox, with its jaw still clenched on the rabbit, inadvertently got snagged by the bald eagle. The eagle lifted the young fox and rabbit into the sky triggering an even more dramatic struggle.”
“Images that tell a story — rather than just being pretty pictures — are my favorite. That’s what I work toward” And we can guarantee that Kevin has succeeded his goal to capture a shot that tells us an incredible story.
Scroll down to see the photos yourself, and don’t forget to hold a minute of silence for the poor rabbit, the real hero in this story who will always be remembered in our thoughts.
Kevin Ebi is a photographer of LivingWilderness.com and he captured the fight of a life time recently
“Eagles really don’t like to waste a lot of effort in getting their food, so they look for easy opportunities,”
“A couple of days ago, I captured an especially dramatic act of thievery. I saw a bald eagle steal a rabbit from a young red fox”
“Even more impressive: at times, this battle played out more than 20 feet in the air”
“A red fox caught a rabbit and was carrying it across the meadow. I panned my camera with it to capture the action”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“Then behind me, I heard the cry of a bald eagle. I knew it wanted the rabbit”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“To my surprise, the scene was even more dramatic than I expected”
“I thought the fox would drop the rabbit, giving the eagle an easy dinner”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“Instead, the fox, with its jaw still clenched on the rabbit, inadvertently got snagged by the bald eagle”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“The eagle lifted the young fox and rabbit into the sky triggering an even more dramatic struggle”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
The fox was fine after its flight. “It shook off the encounter and resumed playing with its fellow kits”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi
“I took several pictures of it after the ordeal and couldn’t find a single scratch”
Image credits: Kevin Ebi