A raven was recorded on video teasing an eagle, but the confrontation fortunately did not escalate.
Búðardalur.is, a news website covering northwest Iceland, reports that the stand-off took place on the farm Spágilsstaðir, located in Laxárdal. A large eagle, sitting on its own amongst sheep owned by Gísli Þórðarson, was for the most part left alone by nearby ravens. One raven, however, decided not to keep its distance.
As can be seen in the video below, the raven – nearly half the size of the eagle in question – approached the eagle, pecking at times at the eagle’s tail feathers. True to the raven’s trickster nature, it hopped just out of reach every time the eagle tried to snap back.
While the raven mostly engaged in the classic style of teasing by invading personal space, this was enough for the eagle to apparently decide that holding its position wasn’t worth having to put up with an annoying raven. The eagle took flight, reportedly heading west to Hvammsfjörður.
Numerous eagles have been spotted in the area in recent years. An informal census taken in 2006 discovered 66 eagle pairs. Ravens, however, greatly outnumber eagles in Iceland, which might explain this raven’s brazen self-confidence.
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