Bald Eagle Swimming

[Trillian Flummox]

During my recent trip to Grand Manan I observed an alarming scene while standing on a cliff top to watch the sunset. A mature Bald Eagle swooped down to the ocean for his evening meal and caught a very large fish. He only managed to lift it a couple of feet above the water before being pulled back down to the surface. I watched him struggle in the water for several agonizing minutes before he finally disengaged himself and flew away. Apparently it is not unheard of for eagles to drown in these situations, but it is more often the younger ones who make the mistake. He was quite far out in the bay but here are a few photos to give you the idea:

[JW Mills]

Bald Eagles can actually swim. Many years ago I watched one swimming off the B.C. coast. It used its wings similar to the way we use our arms when doing the butterfly.
Here's a short clip showing the actual stroke;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMft3Ny7hFk

[Trillian Flummox]

Thanks for the video link and the insight Zed!  It was some of the local islanders who told me about birds drowning - I didn't think of checking YouTube! lol
So now I've done a little Googling and it sounds like yes they are in fact very strong swimmers and float quite well thanks to very thick down. It was likely that the bird I saw was trying to swim to shore with his catch (swimming not struggling to get out of the water) which is very common (there are many more videos online to illustrate this fact). I can only guess that he simply gave up when he got too tired since he was so far out. There are some birds who do drown, but not because of any problem letting go of a fish. It is most often due to hypothermia.