Have no fear: Pizza Eagle is here

• A Connecticut photographer captured a bald eagle grabbing a slice of pizza from a parking lot.
• Doug Gemmell said it was not typical to see eagles grabbing food outside of fish or small rodents.

The saying usually goes "as American as apple pie," but a juvenile bald eagle in Connecticut suggests the expression should have ended with "pizza pie" after it took off with a half-eaten parking lot pizza.

Doug Gemmell, a retired banker turned photographer, told Insider this was the first time he's seen one steal a slice.

"Pizza is not your typical thing," Gemmell said of America's bird.

The photographer, who has been taking nature shots for 7 years now, said he found the eagle near Wethersfield Cove, a inlet located in Wethersfield, Connecticut, after hearing about eagle activity in the area in early March. He walked up to a Department of Motor Vehicles parking lot in the area when he saw an eagle fly around, then lower its legs.

"That's always a sign that it's going to either land on something or grab something, and it was coming down pretty low to the ground," Gemmell said. "So at that point, I said 'you know what, let me lock on that thing and take us some pictures.'"

Although he missed the shot of the eagle grabbing the pizza because of a snowbank in the way, Gemmell managed to grab some aerial photos of the eagle clutching its pepperoni prize.

Soon after, four crows, who also wanted the slice, chased the eagle away, Gemmell said. He said he never saw whether or not the eagle ate the pizza.

Gemmell speculated that the young eagle perhaps saw another creature eating the pizza, or grabbed it with the intent of dropping it. Young eagles are known to investigate random objects and sometimes grab objects too heavy for their bodies in order to practice their snatching.

He said he's received a positive response after posting the image to Facebook, with people making humorous comments about America's pizza-loving bird. Gemmell also printed out the photo and hung it on his wall, and said he would be willing to send others prints of the eagle if they reach out.

Insider asked Gemmell if he had heard of pizza rat — a 2015 meme in which a New York City subway rat walked away with a slice of pizza twice its size. He confirmed he had.

"Maybe this one could be the Pizza Eagle of Connecticut," Gemmell said.