A white-tailed sea eagle plays with a golf ball at Namdae Stream in the city of Gangneung on South Korea’s east coast on Jan. 1, 2023. The endangered bird is designated as South Korea’s Natural Monument No. 243-4. (Yonhap)
GANGNEUNG, Jan. 6 (Korea Bizwire) — A sharp-eyed photographer captured a video of an endangered white-tailed sea eagle playing with a golf ball.
One fully-grown and two juvenile white-tailed sea eagles are spending their winter at Namdae Stream in Gangneung, Gangwon Province.
Last Sunday, after sitting on the sand bank of the stream for a long time together with the fully-grown one, one juvenile white-tailed sea eagle attempted to catch fish but failed.
The juvenile white-tailed sea eagle found a white golf ball half-buried in the mud and picked it up with its beak. It kept moving it here and there and capturing and releasing it with its talons.
Suddenly, it picked up a long stick buried deep in the mud using its beak. The white-tailed sea eagle looked like it was hitting the ball with the long stick just like the golf addressing posture.
After playing with the golf ball for about 15 minutes, the juvenile white-tailed sea eagle flew to the fully-grown one. Without eating its prey, the juvenile white-tailed sea eagle flew to a hill behind the stream together with the fully-grown one.
The golf ball that the white-tailed sea eagle played with appears to be one of the ones hit by some thoughtless golfers who practice golf along stream’s upper region.
Even in the past, it was observed several times that seagulls played with golf balls.
The extraordinary scene of the white-tailed sea eagle gave small pleasure to the photographer, but the thoughtless behavior of humans can pose a great threat to wildlife seeking prey for survival.
Lina Jang (linajang@koreabizwire.com)
