SecretNature t1_ism7d3p wrote on October 17, 2022 at 12:49 AM

A couple other ways I have personally witnessed. Spring flooding can create creeks between lakes and I have witnessed fish swim between them. I have also watched osprey catch full grown fish and accidentally drop them into other lakes. It seems like a freak accident but I have witnessed it multiple times.

Flash635 t1_ismy39u wrote on October 17, 2022 at 4:29 AM

During extreme flood events the water trap at the Carbrook Golf Course in Australia connects to a nearby river.

That's why there are bull sharks in the water trap.

pandc0122 t1_iso9fxd wrote on October 17, 2022 at 1:48 PM

I wonder if it’s possible that this behavior is a kind of survival mechanism - spreading food stock to new habitats, increasing the likelihood of good hunting in future seasons.

SecretNature t1_isqd7od wrote on October 17, 2022 at 10:32 PM

It is an interesting thought but for the sake of brevity I did not include all of the details in my post. Every time I have seen this happen it was when an osprey was being chased by a bald eagle. They did not want to drop the fish but they had to in order to use their talons to defend themselves. So, I don’t think it was intentional to drop them in the lake. At another location I have found fish in the middle of a baseball field presumably dropped by osprey as well under similar situations.

pandc0122 t1_it2a0t8 wrote on October 20, 2022 at 12:45 PM

Ah. And to clarify, I don’t think anything about it is “intentional” - more instinctive. In any case, dropping prey in order to escape an eagle is definitely a survival mechanism. 🙂