Eagle & Child

My reaction in email was:

Consensus is that it is fake-- have been dealing with tons of mail on it. I heard of one eagle in Mongolia 20 years ago that attacked a kid but it is rare if it happens.

Africa's Crowned eagle is another story. A primate and antelope predator of the forest, it has been implicated in several attacks on kids and in the fifties (I think without checking date) a baby's skull was found in a nest in Zambia. It was also what probably killed the Australopithcine fossil called "the Taung Baby". A friend who knew one flown in Zimbabwe for baboon control said she made him very nervous before she had killed. I also know of one that killed a German shepherd in London. Here is Alberto Palleroni flying the much smaller male, and a photo of the Zimbabwe bird by Craig Golden, who told me the tale.

I might add that the only ones I ever saw at any length, a pair owned by Mima Parry- Jones in England, were unnerving in their catlike Gos agility-- the male could fly straight up ten feet-- and their yellow- eyed appraising stare...

UPDATE: After examining I don't even think the bird who comes close is an eagle-- if it is "real" at all, I think it is a blown up image of a red kite! See the shape of the wings, and of the tail as she passes... at first it looks convex, but as she gets beyond it looks concave and the wing shape is right. Color looks like the less forked immature. I have seen a few real ones, and Tom Russell's father- in- law sent me some thing from Switzerland last year of a guy that feeds hundreds in the winter. Lots of images to choose from there!