Trail cam catches battling bald eagles

WILDLIFE WATCHING — Sometimes trail cams are flat out lucky — as effective as a pro photographer at snapping the shutter at precisely the right moment to capture wildlife in action.

Here’s a case in point.  The two photos, provided by a reader, show not only the dramatic incoming shot, but also the contact as two bald eagles, their talons entangled, tussle over the carcass of a dead horse near Sandpoint.

It’s a tough life even at the top of the food chain.

One point: Carcasses of any type provide good opportunities to mount trail cams for photos of predators and scavengers.  Wildlife managers might recommend a more controlled livestock carcass disposal method in wolf or grizzly country to prevent habituating the carnivores that could cause problems later on.  But a stock animal that dies a natural death during winter can be difficult to deal with because of snow and frozen ground. Scavengers take advantage.