🦅 The Spectacular Spiral Courtship of Bald Eagles 🦅 High above forests, rivers, and lakes, bald eagles perform one of nature’s most breathtaking courtship rituals — the spiral dive. When two eagles bond, they climb thousands of metres into the sky, lock talons mid-air, and begin a dramatic, corkscrewing free-fall toward the ground. For several heart-stopping seconds, they tumble together in perfect synchrony before releasing at the last possible moment and soaring apart. It’s a powerful displa

"But when it comes to courtship, bald eagles put the wild in wildlife. The maneuver above—known as the cartwheel display or death spiral—is chief among their “spectacular courtship rituals,” says wildlife ecologist David Buehler of the University of Tennessee. “The two soar up to high altitude, lock talons, and tumble and cartwheel toward Earth.” They let go before reaching the ground—except when they don’t. In 2014 two adult eagles, talons locked, were found tangled in a Portland, Oregon, tree.