280 



NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 68 



a killer whale attack on a sea otter, he lists them as an enemy and 

 presumed ''that killer whales terrorize sea otters." 



BALD EAGLE Haliaeetus leucocephalus 



The sea otter population at Amchitka progressed from near ex- 

 tinction at the turn of the century to maximum size in about 40 

 years. At the same time a large population of eagles occupied 

 Amchitka. 



From many months of field observations by a number of ob- 

 servers there is only one authentic observation of an eagle attack- 

 ing a living sea otter. This occurred on 3 June 1961 at Barr House 

 Cove on Amchitka Island. In a letter of 17 October 1961, R. D. 

 Jones reported what he and Vernon D. Berns observed : 



We were on the beach of the cove watching the eagles with binoculars . . . 

 [an eagle] launched and flew ... to sea losing altitude rapidly and disap- 

 pearing behind the island. The eagle quickly returned directly to the island 

 . . . carrying a large bulky object . . . [which it] carried ... to the nest and 

 upon our approach took wing. It was not necessary for us to climb the pin- 

 nacle to know there was a sea otter pup in [the nest] for the screaming of the 

 pup was all too clear. We did climb it, however, and observed three eagle 

 nestlings and the still living pup. 



Sea otter remains frequently occur in eagle nests (Krog, 1953 ; 

 Kenyon, 1961, 1964) where the two species occur together. That 

 certain individual eagles may develop a taste for sea otters, while 

 others do not, is indicated by the failure of Murie (1959) and 

 D. C. Hopper {in Jones, R. D., unpublished report of 1 January 

 to 31 August 1953) to find sea otter remains in eagle nests they 

 investigated on islands where sea otters were numerous. I ob- 

 tained many observations at Amchitka of eagles feeding on car- 

 casses of sea otters that died of natural causes and saw them 

 carry parts of these carcasses away in their claws. The otter re- 

 mains frequently seen in eagle nests undoubtedly include many 

 that were obtained by scavenging rather than predation. 



One observation quoted from my field notes is typical of many: 



St. Makarius Bay, Amchitka Island, 2 April 1959, 0900. At water's edge an 

 adult eagle was finishing the remains of a large fish (ca. 30 in. (0.75 m.) long, 

 washed ashore dead) while four other eagles (all in subadult plumage) 

 rested on the beach and bluff. In the midst of this group, a young male sea 

 otter — just awakened from the night's sleep — squirmed about on the dry 

 grass (est. wt.=25 lb. (11.3 kg.)). Obviously the eagles were paying no 

 attention to the sea otter and the otter was certainly not alarmed at the 

 eagles' presence. 



In places where one or more eagles were near, I frequently saw 

 helpless young sea otters left floating on the surface while the 



