As sly as they come! Watch a fox creep up on a bald eagle nest to try and steal eggs.

Unfortunately for the fox, these eagles aren’t to be messed with. After an initial confrontation, the bald eagle on the nest quickly calls for back up from its mate.

Explore.org reiterated that these are wild eagles and the wing tag you can see in the footage is for ‘scientific purposes’.

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What the incredible scene playout:

This footage is filmed by EXPLORE.org who have a Live Nature Camera network.

This bald eagle nest, which in general are one of the bird world’s biggest, is located on a cliff face on Catalina Island in California, USA. As a result, it makes things a little easier for the fox and other predators to access the nest, but given the protection available to it, that shouldn’t be an issue. 

The bald eagle species are believed to mate for life, forming strong bonds with their partner, which are clearly evident here, and generally tending to a pair of eggs each year (which they defend fiercely). 

The nest in daylight:

Watch the live stream here.

The bald eagle is, in fact, a conservation success story. Although the proud national bird of the United States, it was almost completely wiped out on the continent after many decades of being hunted for sport, the “protection” of fishing grounds and being heavily affected by pesticides like DDT.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service moved the species off the endangered list in 1995 and it is now of ‘least concern’  due to, amongst other things, reduced pesticide usage and reintroduction programmes.