Dirty fish stealers!!!

[fishuhalik]

We were out fishing perch for a couple hours this weekend. We were doing pretty good but we had to hole hop a bunch as they were spread out over a large flat about 6-8' deep. I had caught a nice 12"er and set it next to the hole and was fishing another hole about 20' away when this guy bombed in and nabbed my perch! It flew a little ways away and started eating it and my buddy & I wanted to see how close I could get to it. I took this pic at about 6' away. It let us sit there the entire time it ate the fish. This really made the weekend & figured I'd share! Sorry it's kind of a poor pic as all I had on me was my cell.

I had another pic of it with my buddy in the frame, but for some reason my phone didn't save it

[toughguy]

I ran into something like this a few weeks ago too. He took a bath in one of my test holes and stole some minnows out of my bucket. Lucky for him he didn't grab any of my fish. He wasn't scared at all. Just walked right up to our portable.

[ThunderLund78]

That would be a cool experience. Is that a yearling bald eagle eagle? Looks a little big for an Osprey. or maybe some type of hawk?

[MN Shutterbug]

That would be a cool experience. Is that a yearling bald eagle eagle? Looks a little big for an Osprey. or maybe some type of hawk?

Definitely not an eagle.

[fishuhalik]

Really mnshutterbug? I thought it was an immature eagle. What was it? I've never seen one that close before so I guess I wasn't sure what i was looking at

[MN Shutterbug]

I've taken photos of eagles of different ages and none have this coloring. I'm leaning towards Osprey. The markings are very similar to this one I shot north of Otter Tail a couple years ago. I'm really surprised your thief was that bold. That would have been cool to witness.

[JayinMN]

Its a exceptionally light colored juvenile bald eagle.

[MN Shutterbug]

Hmmm, you may be right. I've just never seen one with this color pattern. However, after saving it and enlarging it, I see his legs do look too feathery for an Osprey. I can now see some yellow in his beaks and feet. Also, I doubt Ospreys are around here in the winter. Maybe I'd better lean the other way. Maybe it's a cross. I can't even find a photo of an eagle on the web that has these markings. I guess there is more to a bird than just it's feathers.

[JayinMN]

Yeah I have never seen one like it either but the beak gives it away.