Life Lesson

11:30 am 62 F with a breath of wind at 2mph; water temperature 58 F partly cloudy.

A fine morning on Bear Lake; during a late breakfast on a sun washed north porch we watched a young brown bear fishing at the creek.  

Earlier on a paddle in my kayak with my morning coffee, I watch a young eagle drag a salmon from the creek.  This was a challenge since the salmon was nearly as big as the eagle and was thrashing wildly.   The young eagle was successful at getting the fish up the gravel bank and pinned to ground with the its large talons.   Almost a immediately, this bird was challenged by an older bird which had witness the successful fishing.  It strutted toward the eagle with the fish, neck extended screaming, then rushed forward with wings spread.  Predictably, the fisher-bird surrendered his prize and left the beach.  As the mature eagle began tearing mouthfuls of flesh from the still flapping fish, two smaller young eagles approached with heads down as if begging for a bite.  The eagle seemed to ignore them and kept feeding.  Then it was interrupted when a large eagle with bright mature plumage plunged in from the sky with talons extended right into the knot of eagles, scattering them and talking the salmon for itself.   Four eagle then sat on the beach and watched the new king of the creek as it feed on the fresh killed salmon.
  
Today's life lesson:   Being the one that caught the fish doesn't guarantee that you'll be the one to eat it.

Dan