You think this pic is real??????????

[outlaw]

Seems by the size of the bird the pic is fake... what you think, supposedly taken in MT...

[R Buker]

That is a real picture.  Eagle and fox.  I don't recall the details but I'm sure someone will come along with the story.

[Ladobe]

By default I'd call it a fake - as most of these pictures floating around the Internet are.   

You decide.   The subspecies of Golden Eagles we have in NA average 5'-7' wingspans, with the females being the largest.   Blackbilled Magpies ( the subspecies found in MT) average about 1 1/2' tip of bill to tip of tail.     

My guess is a photo shopped job into an otherwise believable picture of a Golden flushing a magpie off a carcass.

Just an opinion, but hey, what do you want for 2 cents?      

[FinsnFur]

It is real 

In fact it's been around the internet since February of 2006 and the picture was taken by a photographer, rather then a hunter, and it was in Montana.

Here's the whole scoop on it http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/eaglefox.asp

[outlaw]

We dont get all the latest info here in SD....   

[ohiobob]

Damn we dont get to see stuff like that in Ohio,,,and there is magpies in MT? i guess it isnt to hard to figure out if Canada is full of magpies,,my next question,,is it legal to shoot magpies in MT ?

[vvarmitr]

Here are the series of pix ... http://www.tarsiger.com/index.php?pic_id=komi1142612071&lang=fin

That pix sure looked fake to me though.

[ohiobob]

Good detective work James
those are some good pics

Bob

[Ladobe]

Randy - Jim...

Thanks for pinning this photo down as real.   We have a lot of Goldens in the desert southwest and most are easy to approach fairly close.   I was lucky enough to do eyrie and species count studies on all the birds of prey species with the county AG biologist when I lived in SW Utah for a few years.

Damn we dont get to see stuff like that in Ohio,,,and there is magpies in MT? i guess it isnt to hard to figure out if Canada is full of magpies,,my next question,,is it legal to shoot magpies in MT ?

Yellow-billed Magpies are only found in California, but most of the rest of North America is populated by Black-billed Magpies, at least in their preferred habitats.   

Being Corvids, they are federally protected in the US by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Lacey Act,  Pan American Convention and Wild Bird Conservation Act... and do not have an open hunting season.    Only in America does it take our government several laws to cover the same thing.       

So no, it is not legal to kill magpies in MT, or destroy their nests or even to have their feathers in your possession.   While Great Britain (for Canada) did subscribe to the 1918 treaty, Canada currently does not include any Corvids on their protected list at all.   

So if you are in MT and want to shoot a magpie, make sure you are far enough north to at least have one foot in Canada when you do it.    :roflmao:

[stevecriner]

I always wondered were the front feet went on the fox. Must of pecked them off.