Harassment

This is a post with many photos.The shots are not up to par because I was shooting right into the sun for most of the drama but the story was so exciting that I had to share it.

Yesterday morning I went outside to drink my coffee on the back deck, when I heard a strange sound. I went back in, grabbed the camera and watched events unfold.

The noise I heard was a pair of shrikes - butcher birds - dive-bombing a golden eagle and screaming while they were doing so.

Nearby was the pair of ravens watching the action.

Soon the eagle had enough and he plunged off the cliff with the shrikes in pursuit.

 The eagle landed on the other side of the cliff but the shrikes and the ravens followed closely, not willing to let him be.

 Next it was the raven's turn to harass the big bird, chasing him and trying to grab his tail.

 In the photo above the raven is giving chase while one of the shrikes comes in from the side.

 The eagle lands once again but the smaller birds keep up the chase.

 Finally the eagle starts walking, seemingly in disgust! He kept this up for 2 or 3 minutes until he disappeared over the hill.