Our national bird is not a very upstanding character, more of a carrion-eating pirate. Perhaps Ben Franklin was right and we should have selected the wild turkey to represent the nation. Here in the Pacific Northwest where, since the banning of DDT gave them a new lease on life, bald eagles are extremely common, it is not unusual to see an eagle jump an osprey carrying a fish back to its nest and force it to drop its prey. The eagle is usually able to recover (steal) the fish before it hits the water. In the late fall and winter when riverbanks can be littered with the carcasses of spawned-out salmon, I've come across eagles so stuffed with rotting salmon as to be unable get airborne and forced to crow-hop along the gravel bar when approached.