Have You Ever Watched An Eagle Kill a Crow? Oh Torrington

Outside of your cat or dog killing a mouse, have you ever watched an animal kill another animal? It's not something that you see often, especially in human-run Connecticut, but I did yesterday, right outside my place, and I can't shake it.

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Around 4PM yesterday afternoon, I heard what sounded like hundreds of crows screaming over my place in Torrington's South end. I live right along the Naugatuck River by Carvel, the Dog Park, and Torrington's new greenway. I grabbed my dog's leash and walked out to see what the hell was happening. A battle was taking place right over Iffland Lumber. Dozens of huge crows were circling low and screaming. I had to watch for about two minutes before I finally saw a huge eagle that was trying to hunt one of them down.

Well, the eagle made a strong turn, and finally got one of them. I was so shocked, it was like watching Animal Planet or a NatGeo show. The crows REALLY started to scream, and I watched helplessly as the eagle dropped right down to the ground about 50 yards away from me with the crow in it's talons.

I have a new respect for eagles, as soon as it had the crow on the ground, I saw it basically behead this poor crow with one rip of it's massive beak. The other crows tried to rally around their fallen friend with furious caws and furiously flapping and buzzing into and around the murder scene. It surprisingly worked, but it was too late, in just a couple of seconds, the crow was ripped apart. I blurred the photo above, but I walked over after the scene quieted down and captured this.

Warning - Not Pretty.

My takeaway? I will never let my 6 pound Chihuahua off-leash, outside, again.