What Do Eagles Eat?

Our existence in biosphere is governed by a set of rules guarded under the food chain. Food being the essential component among all living organisms, hence how we seize to live and what we do for sustenance is what gains primacy all throughout. This food cycle begins at the literal grass root level, and goes up high above to the sky with the eagles.

YES! You heard that right! Eagles are so strong in nature that they appear at the top level of the food chain, indicating that literally no other living being can be stronger than it, and so be able to conquer and kill it for food.

Read on to learn more about this mighty bird.

Mighty Eagles

Eagles are predatory birds, who are at all times in the lookout for prey. They can fly at the most top-notch heights, and still get an accurate view of the land down below. They mostly act as scavengers, i.e. derive food from the already dead and decaying, or may eat abundantly fishes and other marine organisms, and hence are aptly placed at the very top of the food chain.

This means that there’s nothing else that can kill and eat them.

Precise Vision

Keeping its watch out and clear for its prey is a characteristic feature of the mighty eagles. Hence when they sore high above the ground unto limitless skies, they still are able to keep a track of what exactly happens down below in the land.

For instance, one category of eagle known as the bald eagle can easily auto-focus its vision towards the fishes in the water bodies, even if its flying at about a height of 1000ft above the land surface.

Ideally, it never is easy to escape from the grasp of a eagle, since it holds on to its prey in much strength and prowess.

Tails Or Brakes?

Just like the brakes of an aeroplane helps it to control speed once landed onto the runway, similarly the brakes of an eagle lie in its mighty feathers placed in the tail portion. These help the bird to control its speed and movement, while it focusses on its prey, and then gradually swoops down in silence to catch hold of the prey in surprise.

The tails feathers are generally the most longest on the body of the eagle, and are usually the strongest ones in the body. They are mostly pale to white in colour.

Talons

The more the grip on the prey, the more power do they showcase!

Eagles are one of a unique kind of predatory bird, who have extremely sharp and strong talons in their toes. A whip by their talons only can cause a great injury to the enemy or prey. They usually have curved and sharp talons, which not only gives their toes the adequate grip to perch down, but also to hold tightly their prey, when they surprisingly come down and swoop them away at a glance.

These are so strong, that irrespective of the size of their prey, the eagle can easily hold on to it tightly and be still able to fly with its additional weight.

Food Matters

Eagles are commonly regarded to be scavengers, and so also feed on the dead and decayed. But apart from that, they are carnivorous; and so  some other sources of food for them would be fish in marine life, and small animals like deer, rabbits, etc.

Facts

• Some other excellent predatory animals include the grizzly bear and the anaconda snake!
• The food chain is arranged in a way of descending order of transfer of energy between living organisms, when one feeds on the other!

Related  Questions:

1. Where does human beings lie in the food chain?
2. What is the difference between carnivorous, herbivorous and omnivorous?
3. How is a raven different from an eagle?

Objective Questions:

• Eagles can fly at high _________.
• Eagles are mostly _________ in food habits.
• _______ provide strong grip to the toes of the eagle.
• ___________ provides control  to the movement of the eagle when it swoops down.
• Eagles are the ________ bird of prey.

True Or False:

1. Eagles are weak birds: ______
2. Talons can also hurt the prey of an eagle: ______
3. Ravens and eagles are same birds of prey: ______
4. Eagles are at the top most layer of the food chain: _____
5. Eagles are also scavengers: _____