A Hunting Eagle???

[Leyrana Silumiel]

It's my assumption that the eagle was maybe hunting for the others. Like a lioness in a pride of lions. Maybe his job was to bring back a good quantity of food for the others or maybe that's wrong completely and he was scouting to see the activities of Mordor.

What would be the significance in showing this, though? Could the eagle have been a spy for Mordor, sort of like the Crebain?