Got a spectacular view of an eagle on a morning walk – NRK Nordland

– The mornings are so wonderful, because it is so quiet and peaceful and not so many people.

But the quiet morning walk had a good end when he suddenly spotted a huge sea eagle right in front of him and the dog.

– It just sat there very calmly and watched a bit occurred out. In fact, it was so calm that we could approach it.

Johansen says that both the dog and the eagle behaved calmly despite the fact that there were only a few meters between them. He was never anxious that the eagle would lunge at the dog.

– There was no reaction to the dog that there was an eagle there, and there was no reaction to the eagle that there was a dog there. It was funny stuff, he says.

As a hobby photographer, he always has a camera with him, so of course he snapped some pictures.

– But when I got about three meters away from the eagle, it flew away.

Johansen says that the eagle flew down to the sea, and there it stayed.

He wonders why the eagle remained seated when he and the dog got so close. But think that it may have been in a fight, overeaten or simply was old.

– In any case, I was very surprised. Eagles are usually very shy. If you want to wear eagle glasses, you must have a camera with a good zoom.

Bodø and the Steigen area are home to Norway’s densest population of sea eagles. Bodø has been chosen as Norway’s sea eagle city. So eagles themselves are not a rarity.

– I live on the north side of Bodø, and there are a lot of eagles here. But it is certainly not everyday to experience them up close, he says.

Injured eagle

Karl-Otto Jacobsen is a bird of prey researcher and believes there is a good reason why the photographer has gotten so close to the sea eagle.

– One picture shows that it has an injury on the left side of the head.

Jacobsen believes it is likely that the eagle Johansen encountered was in a fight with one or more other sea eagles.

Bald eagles are territorial, so a new intruder enters the territory, so they fight so things go badly for them.

Jacobsen estimates that it is an adult sea eagle of around five years, and thinks that perhaps the sea eagle was trying to challenge a pair that has territory.

– And then it can end up being damaged.

It can be difficult to say whether the damage to the head and eye will heal, says Jacobsen.

And if you are lucky enough to see a sea eagle, Jacobsen believes you must keep your distance.

– It is nesting time, so now it is laying eggs, so it is important not to disturb the sea eagle. And if the eagle gets scared, it can run away and then the eggs can become cold and thus destroyed, or eaten by predators, says Jacobsen.

He reminds us that this advice does not only apply to sea eagles.

– This applies to all species along the coast, perhaps especially hubbro as they are very vulnerable to disturbance. Then they can leave the nest. And if the disturbance lasts for several days, there is a high chance that they will fail to nest.