PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Think your butterfly stroke is good? Try paddling against the wind in a feather coat.
Local cyclist Tony Valente told KOIN 6 News that he was riding his bike past Siletz Bay at about 1:30 p.m. on Sunday when he spotted a bald eagle trudging through choppy water. Valente pulled over and captured a video of the eagle swimming across the bay as it dragged a fish out of the water and perched on a nearby log for lunch.
“I’ve always said one of the big pluses of pedaling along the Oregon Coast is that you can see things you might miss traveling fast in a car,” Valente wrote on social media. “... This may be one of the coolest things I’ve seen here in Lincoln City.”
Bird Alliance of Oregon spokesperson Brodie Cass Talbott told KOIN 6 News that the eagle seen in the video was likely carrying a fish heavier than its own body weight. Adult eagles generally weigh 7 to 12 pounds.
“Bald Eagles are known for their rowing flight when they've become waterlogged, and/or have a fish that is too large to fly off with,” Talbott said. “Osprey, our other raptor that eats fish, have little down, the feathers that provide insulation, which allows them to fully immerse themselves as they dive for fish, and still fly off, but Bald Eagles, living in colder climates, have more down, and so if they become waterlogged, they may need to swim to shore."
