Instead of flying over to the log the eagle flew straight at the young boy and attacked him.
The only part of the boy visible to the eagle was the his face, as the rest was hidden by the child's bright green hoodie.
The boy, around the age of 6 or 8, was fidgeting with the zipper on his sweatshirt, according to witnesses. He was a member of the afternoon crowd at the Alice Springs Desert Park in Australia's Northern Territory, which hosts a bird show. On July 6, a captive wedge-tailed eagle - the largest bird of prey in Australia - was to be the closing act.
If the zoological park had a script planned, the eagle ignored it. The bird, alert to the sound of the zipper and possibly alarmed or confused, went after the only opening it saw. It struck the boy's head, talons-first.
"He screamed, the mother was distraught," Keenan Lucas, a Victorian man in attendance, told the Herald Sun, "and the presenters wrapped up the show very quickly." A snapshot by fellow Victorian Christine O'Connell, posted to Instagram, shows the eagle mid-strike, its talons tugging on the boy's hood.
The eagle drew blood, but Desert Park told the Melbourne paper that the boy's injuries were "superficial." In a statement provided to NT News, the park said, "A thorough investigation regarding the circumstances behind this incident is under way and the eagle will be removed from the show while this investigation is ongoing."
When asked by National Geographic what might have motivated the bird to attack, John Parks, a raptor expert at Cornell University, said that the eagle could have been protecting itself - or perhaps it was hungry, though zoo birds are typically provided with plenty to eat.
The eagle should not be held responsible, Parks cautioned. It was only "the nature of the beast," he said. "Instinctively they are carnivorous animals that are looking for something to eat, or defending themselves from something that may be a threat."
With their seven-foot wingspans, the eagles are certainly large critters - but not large enough to cart an 8-year-old child away. The birds' usual fare are smaller mammals, like rabbits or baby kangaroos.
In fact, as The Washington Post reported in May, a wedge-tailed eagle lifted a 10-pound baby kangaroo out of a police station yard, sending the officer who cared after the animal sprinting. Officer Scott Mason rescued the joey, Cuejoue, who had several puncture wounds but recovered from his ordeal.
Avian attacks on humans are rare, but not preposterous. Crows have been known to go after blond joggers, which ornithologists believe might be a defensive reaction to golden hair the birds associate with dogs like Labradors or retrievers. Territorial nesting birds, like swans, can be very aggressive to passersby, in one instance fatally capsizing a kayaker's boat.
© 2016 The Washington Post
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)