I've seen them pick up a good size animal like a big jack rabbit bythe hind legs and get airborne immediately so the eagle doesn't get bit. They fly up a way then drop the prey from altitude to kill it. That's likely how the eagle handled that fox. Or maybe that's how we should handle Somali pirates....

Actually that would work for many types of undesireables....:rolleyes:

In 1988 I was sheep hunting in Colorado near Pagosa Springs. My guide and I had climbed a bare rocky ridge and were watching a small group of ewes with one lamb. From behind us a big Golden Eagle came over and made a turn above the sheep. Immediately all the ewes circled around the lamb. The eagle made another circle and landed on a F150 size boulder about 40 feet away from and a little above the sheep. The ewes had their rumps to the lamb and were standing their ground. The sheep didn't move and the eagle sat. We watched with binoculars for maybe 20-30 minutes. The eagle finally gave up and went on his/her way. Once the eagle was out of sight the sheep went back to feeding. The picture is of the ewes and lamb when we first saw them. They had moved too far for my camera to take a good picture when the stand off took place.
James

eagles
 

After being in Alaska on a week float trip, we were all loaded up with our gear and floating out of the outback, I had my camera put away and I noticed an eagle sitting in a tree. All of a suddend the eagle took to flight and swooped down and caught a large salmon and carried it back to the nest in the tree top. It was a spactacular sight and as usual the camera was deep in the pack gear.

By actual tests,eagles could only lift about 8 pounds from a dead stop maximum,maybe a bit more with momentum while in flight.This is for golden eagle females,which are quite a bit larger than males.The power of their feet is incredible and has to be felt to really be appreciated, a situation you don't want to be in unless you have very heavy reinforced gloves.

Fantastic looking bird...

Great bird