Xia Pengjie looked up at the sky with an excited look on his face. "Oh my god, no wonder we rarely see Steller's sea eagles during the day, but often hear their cries at night. It turns out that a female eagle has returned."
Xiang Yang's eyes flickered. Although he had a room on the boat, he usually did not live on the boat when the fishing boat docked, so he did not know about the Steller's sea eagle. But as soon as Xiang Yang and Xia Pengjie opened their mouths, Xiang Yang immediately knew that these two Steller's sea eagles had probably appeared on the boat for some time.
Xiang Yang also quickly realized that in the past, the male eagle was unwilling to live in the eagle's nest. It liked to stand on the side of the ship or on the top of the cabin to sleep. But some time ago, it developed the habit of returning to the nest, and turned the originally square eagle's nest with only one entrance into an open-air disc-shaped bird's nest, with huge changes in both structure and appearance.
"Chiu—"
Suddenly, the male eagle swooped down and landed on the top of the cabin, then raised its head and let out a very loud eagle call towards the sky, as if calling the female eagle.
A group of people, including Xiang Yang, looked up in a hurry. The female eagle's next move might very well determine whether the two Steller's sea eagles would settle down on this ship.
The male eagle became familiar with the crew and was not afraid of them.
But the female eagle is not like that.
The female eagle is a real beast, and a raptor that is about to enter the breeding season. She is very cautious and hostile to all larger animals, including humans.
"Stand back." Professor Chen Yu whispered.
The research team members immediately retreated slowly, but only a part of the crew members moved. The rest looked at Xiang Yang, waiting for his orders.
Xiang Yang looked up at the male eagle standing on the roof of the cabin. The male eagle had its head tilted, its eyes staring motionlessly down.
"Spread out, don't gather together, and don't scare the new Steller's sea eagle." Xiang Yang shouted.
The crew immediately stepped back and stood far away around the side of the deck.
"Fang Youqun." Xiang Yang shouted.
"Brother Yang." Fang Youqun responded immediately.
"Go to the cabin and get a box of squid. No, get a whole chicken." Xiang Yang said.
"Okay, I'll go." Fang Youqun quickly went into the cabin and tinkered with it. In less than a minute, he ran out holding a chicken in his left hand and a box of squid in his right hand.
Xiang Yang glared at Fang Youqun who acted on his own initiative.
"Brother Yang, this is the chicken you wanted." Fang Youqun said with a wry smile.
Xiang Yang took the plucked but uncooked chicken and threw it towards the deck in the direction of the cabin.
The male Steller's sea eagle looked down at the chicken on the deck and swooped down without waiting for Xiang Yang to step back.
"Be careful, step back." Professor Chen Yu shouted hurriedly.
The attack power of eagles is extremely strong, especially the Steller's sea eagle that flies over the ocean all year round and can catch fish under the sea. Their physical fitness is much stronger than that of ordinary eagles. If a human is pecked by them, there will definitely be a bloody hole on the body.
Xiang Yang looked back at Professor Chen Yu, smiled slightly, and did not step back.
If the animal that was about to fly down was a female Steller's sea eagle in the breeding season, Xiang Yang would immediately retreat without hesitation, but if it was a male Steller's sea eagle, Xiang Yang would still trust it.
This kind of trust is just like when outsiders see a Husky with a ferocious expression and dare not approach it, but the Husky's owner dares to slap it on the head.
Sure enough, the Steller's sea eagle did not attack Xiang Yang.
It landed on the deck, making a "gurgling" sound inside its body.
"Coo" is not a sound exclusive to pigeons. Owls also make this call. In fact, many birds make this call. Eagles also make this call when they are most docile.
Xiang Yang walked over and gently touched the head of the Steller's sea eagle.
The Steller's sea eagle had no intention of avoiding Xiang Yang. It flapped its wings, and when its wings spread, they were more than twice as large as its body.
Fang Youqun's face was covered with the strong wind caused by the flapping of the Steller's sea eagle's wings. He exclaimed, "Wow, I never realized before that this eagle's wings are so powerful. It's even stronger than that of a Gyrfalcon, right?"
Professor Chen Yu immediately looked at Fang Youqun, "Have you ever seen a Saker Falcon? Have you ever seen a Saker Falcon spreading its wings on the ground?"
The Saker Falcon is a member of the Falconidae family of the class Aves. It is a national first-class protected animal that is even rarer than the Steller's sea eagle. It was once considered by many to be the most ferocious bird in the world.
In fact, the Saker Falcon has been deified in history, culture, film and television novels. The Saker Falcon's fighting power is indeed strong, but it is definitely not strong enough to defeat all birds and beasts.
The Saker Falcon is a mythical beast and a totem in movies and TV shows, but in reality, they are almost extinct. It depends on which islands with open terrain and many rocks they can still be found.
"No." Fang Youqun immediately said, "I saw it on TV."
Professor Chen Yu was immediately disappointed, but then he smiled and said, "That's right. Even if there really is a Saker Falcon, it will only appear on the rocky coasts, open rocky mountains, coastal islands, river valleys near the coast, and forest tundra areas in northern Europe, northern Asia, and northern North America. How could a Saker Falcon appear here?"
Chen Qingsheng was stunned. "Professor Chen, are there really Gaker Falcons in this world? I have been sailing for many years and have been to the northern waters, but I have never seen any Gaker Falcons."
"Of course there are." Xiang Yang smiled and said, "It is recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica: Birds: "The most handsome eagle is from Liaodong." The Saker Falcon is a large bird of prey with a strong body weight. Generally, females are slightly larger than males. The heaviest can reach 6 kilograms, with a body length and height of about 1 meter, and a wingspan of nearly three meters. Its beak and claws are as hard as iron hooks. It can fly fast and high, and can catch swans, wild ducks, rabbits, roe deer, and even eagles. The emperor of the Liao Dynasty released Saker Falcons to catch swans near the Yazi River (now the Songhua River) every spring. The first swan caught would be celebrated with a banquet called the "First Goose Banquet." During the Jin and Yuan dynasties, the Jurchen and Mongolian nobles also had the custom of using Saker Falcons for hunting, but the Steller's Sea Eagle was not weak either. If the Steller's Sea Eagle really fought with the Saker Falcon, it would be hard to say who would win."
"It's hard to say about its combat effectiveness, but in terms of the ability to survive in the wild, the Steller's sea eagle is far inferior to the Saker Falcon. The Saker Falcon hunts like lightning, pounces and looks very majestic. It has a huge appetite and is very resistant to hunger. It can go without food for 20 days after eating once, can travel through the desert without eating a grain of rice, and can even eat carrion. The Steller's sea eagle can never do this," said a young biologist.
"You can't say that." Xiang Yang shook his head and denied it: "The living environment of the Saker Falcon and the Steller's Sea Eagle is different. There is no way to compare their so-called survival abilities in the wild."