Bald eagle is outnumbered by swans during showdown in Missouri field, photos show

A bald eagle faced off against a group of swans in a Missouri field, and a winner soon emerged, photos show.

The swans had strength in numbers, after all.

Photographer Mark Ramsey captured the tense interaction between the birds near Swan Lake National Wildlife Refuge, about 100 miles northeast of Kansas City.

Ramsey, who lives on a farm near Salisbury, took the photos on Dec. 13.

At first, the bald eagle swooped down near a single swan.

“They just stared at each other a few feet apart,” Ramsey told McClatchy News. “Then the swan had enough and left.”

The persistent eagle’s hunting expedition didn’t end there.

The eagle flew at other swans in the field, perhaps in hope of finding a meal elsewhere.

But the swans bunched together at the sight of the bald eagle.

“I think the swans and the eagle probably knew it couldn’t take a healthy 25 (pound) swan,” Ramsey said. “But I do think it was checking to see if one was hurt or sick and it might have tried then.”

Ramsey captured the bald eagle flying away in defeat after the swarming swans staged a defense.

According to the National Eagle Center, fish are a bald eagle’s prey of choice, but they’re known to also eat waterfowl, squirrels, raccoon, prairie dogs and rabbits.

Eagles are no stranger to preying on swans, either. In 2009, a photographer captured an eagle attacking a swan in mid-air in British Columbia, Canada, The Telegraph reported.