I noticed after the eagle's wings got wet he or she did not fly. A photographer friend of mine claims he witnessed an eagle drown while trying to catch a walleye bigger than she could handle. Although not a common occurance he claims it happens more than you would think! Don't know if they can't let go or won't.
About 7 years ago when I was dove hunting.
There were 2 water tanks filled by a windmill.
One was below the other and fed by a pipe.
There was a dead hawk in the smaller tank long enough it was falling apart.
I shot 2 dove with one shot.
One of them went into a water tank that was being filled by a windmill.
When I climbed up to look for it I found another hawk still alive and floating in the tank.
I called a friend who brought me a drop net. I scooped the hawk out and lowered him down to the ground. The top of the tank was about 12 feet from the ground.
The hawk was barely able to stand. But after an hour it was standing and try dry itself off.
I went off in search or a rabbit or something I could shoot but to no avail.
After about another hour it started walking off up the hill next to us, though it was still not dry enough to fly.
Dont know what happened after that.
There's something weird about that "swimming" motion. I think the water is only a foot deep and the eagle was kinda' hopping the weight along the bottom???