You’re not you when you’re hungry: Plucky female eagle scraps with male after becoming ‘hangry’

A female eagle was seen flying off the handle after a bout of cold weather caused it to become ‘hangry’.

The female eagle swoops down upon the smaller male

Caused by the frustration of being hungry, the grouchy bird of prey was seen swooping down on a male in a vicious impromptu attack.

After a bout of cold weather, the female eagle became unusually aggressive

The fight erupted when a male happened to stray too close her territory, sending the famished female into a fit of rage.

Surrounded by a cloud of powdery snow, the two birds fought for nearly eight minutes

After crashing into its target, the golden eagle was sent tumbling over a rock into a cloud of powdery snow, sparking an epic eight minute brawl.

The lack of food had caused the birds, who are known to be aggressive, to fly into a sudden fight of rage

The incident arose when a mountainous region of Utajärvi, Finland, experienced a lengthy spell of cold weather which forced the birds to rest their wings a way to reserve energy.

After not eating for days on end, the birds, who are notorious for their short tempers, then become extremely aggressive.

Although it isn’t unusual for males to fight, females attacking males are not commonly seen in the wild.

Israeli wildlife photographer, Vladimir Kogan, was calmly snapping the eagles when the scuffle in the snow suddenly broke out.

Vladimir said: “The golden eagle is a very capricious and aggressive bird at the best of times.

“It had been a pretty cold couple of days, the temperatures were below -25 degrees and when temperatures are that low these eagles try not to waste their energy.

“They sit in tree branches waiting for the temperature to rise up to -10 to -15 degree so that they can fly off in search of food, but can wait for days.

“Of course after a couple of cold, hungry days the eagles become more aggressive and are easily agitated.

“I was so lucky to witness the moment too furious eagles began to fight with one another, it was a vicious battle and lasted about eight minutes in all.

“Snowflakes started to fall during the fight which really added to the spectacular nature of the photos.”