My name is David Crutchfield. I live in Rockwall Texas just east of Dallas on Lake Ray Hubbard right on the water. On January 15, 2007 an ice storm prevented me from going to work. I was at home with my two sons John and Will. At about 4:oo pm we were getting ready to go out to a movie when I cuaght sight of a large bird that flew by the window. At first, I thought it was an Osprey or some other large fishing bird. Another glance told me it was something much more special. It was a Bald Eagle! It was flying low near the jetty of the yacht club. It circled and hovered for over a minute. It then dove to the water and I thought it was going for a fish. Instead it had been waiting for a Coot (small black duck like bird AKA mudhen) to resurface. I suppose the Coot had been trying to hide from the Eagle but lost out. The Eagle dove into the water and immediately started to fly off with the Coot in it’s talons. If you look closely at slides 7 and 8 you can see the Coot below the Eagle. We watched the Eagle fly away and were amazed at what we had just witnessed. We had just watched a Bald Eagle hunt down it’s dinner from less that 200 feet. Now we were late to the movie so we jumped in the car to leave. I took my camera with me to show my wife Mary the pictures. She is an avid birder and I knew she would love to see them immediately. About a block from our house I spotted the Eagle sitting in a large tree eating the Coot. We pulled over and I jumped out of the car and took some photos from about 200 feet away (9). I then worked my way closer to the Eagle and took the last tree shot from about 50-75 foot distance. The Eagle began to notice the people nearby and took his dinner and flew away. It was truly an astonishing experience for me and my sons and one that we will not soon forget!