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Hey Everyone:

 

I went to the driveway this morning to get the newspaper. I heard an interesting bird call in the air - certainly not the usual dove, blue jay, finch, or mockingbird. 

 

I looked up to see a red-tailed hawk circling about 50 ft. above me making its hawk call. Maybe it was searching for a thermal, but I was glad I wasn't a field mouse. 

 

It was close enough for me to see individual tail feathers, and I could tell its eyes were tilted at me. I'm not a tree hugger, but it's fun to see a hawk that close. Birds of prey are cool.

 

I noticed it took a while for the usual birds to return to our bird feeders. Thought that was sort of funny.

 

 

 

 

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So cool to see the big Raptors up close.  We have small dogs and even they look up all around before venturing out into the big fenced back yard.  We also at night walk the mutts carrying a big 5 million power flashlight.  Big Owls would LOVE to munch up dinky dogs.

 

Once on Interstate Five driving South between Grants Pass and Medford Oregon right at the County line a huge eagle swooped down right to left barely above the car roof tops.  It must have had a 6 foot wing span.  Very fast, very impressive indeed.  Life is so good. :)

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Bird moment first for me a few days ago,

 

One of the new kids at work found a struggling House Sparrow fledgling that took the big leap a little early. It was kinda stuck in a drain grate in the floor. He's a good kid and wanted to help the little thing so he carefully picked it up and walked outside. He stood still for a couple minutes and the little bird took flight about twenty feet to safely land on top of the cyclone fence.

 

In Less time than he could say, I done good, a large Stellars Jay swooped in and grabbed up the morsel and flew off.

 

Interesting wild kingdom moment indeed.

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There is a family of 3 Coopers Hawks around my neighborhood. I always look for them when I'm outside, and see them quite often, sometimes fairly close!

I've seen one of them making an attack run quite a few times, once he flew right over my head about 15 feet above me, diving after something in my neighbors yard!  :)

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I have seen a Bald Eagle in the wild, laboring to take off with a fish above a mud flat. Very awe-inspiring.

 

 

My favorite bird is the Northern Mockingbird. They sing so much, way more than other birds, and so amazingly. They also having striking plumage and when you see one fly there is no mistaking it.

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I see white headed fish buzzards all the time. They spend more time stealing, or trying to steal the fish that the ospreys caught. I must be an Asshole, cause I got no pride in watching the eagles do that. And honestly could care less if there were eagles around or not. One amusing story...was at the river, a mile from the house...there's a big eagle nest up in an old dead tree...the bunny huggers love to come from far and wide to see them. This one old hippie chick was there, and she looks at me and says in this enraptured voice... " look! Eagles!!" I said, " lady...there's ALWAYS eagles there... I bet they taste like chicken!". She was not amused... Rofl

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We've got screech owls, great horned, sometimes snowy, eagles, osprays, hawks and kestrels.  I can usually call the screech and great horned in to sit in the trees.  Rescued a hawk after he missed a squirrel and pulled up into a window.  He sat quietly for a while, then when he regained his senses, I gave him a launch and he flew off.  One eagle's nest came down south of town and had 5 dog or cat collars in it.

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I see white headed fish buzzards all the time. They spend more time stealing, or trying to steal the fish that the ospreys caught. I must be an Asshole, cause I got no pride in watching the eagles do that. And honestly could care less if there were eagles around or not. One amusing story...was at the river, a mile from the house...there's a big eagle nest up in an old dead tree...the bunny huggers love to come from far and wide to see them. This one old hippie chick was there, and she looks at me and says in this enraptured voice... " look! Eagles!!" I said, " lady...there's ALWAYS eagles there... I bet they taste like chicken!". She was not amused... Rofl

You should have said they taste like Spotted Owl.

 

spottedowlhelper_1.jpg

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We have an Eagle's nest, in a tree, 40 feet behind our property.

 

The adults can pick up anything under 10 lbs. We have small dogs so, we have to watch them carefully.

 

A couple years ago I watched a drama play out in front of my windshield at 50 MPH.

 

Two crows harassing a Bald Eagle, 5 feet in front of my windshield, while driving.

 

The Eagle had enough. He swatted, with his wing, one of the crows, into the ditch, grabbed him and got back into the air in front of my 50 MPH vehicle.

 

I just remember the crow staring at me, in the clutches of the eagle, again only 5 feet away!

 

His buddy had flown away.

 

I know what the eagle had for dinner.

Edited by Sim_Player
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I too saw a crow make a fatal mistake and get under a hawk.

 

When we still had pheasants (please shoot more cats!), I saw one rooster crash onto the ice.  He made a good takeoff for the swamp, went into glide mode and then started loosing too much altitude to make the swamp and punched in 25 yards short.  It was a good reminder for me as an Army aviator that mistakes happen!  Even with birds!

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I too saw a crow make a fatal mistake and get under a hawk.

 

When we still had pheasants (please shoot more cats!), I saw one rooster crash onto the ice.  He made a good takeoff for the swamp, went into glide mode and then started loosing too much altitude to make the swamp and punched in 25 yards short.  It was a good reminder for me as an Army aviator that mistakes happen!  Even with birds!

Ever see an albatross land? Every landing is a crash.

...or a grouse in flight? Looks like someone threw a dead bird.

Edited by patriot
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Hello

 

It's unfortunate that so many birds of prey wind up being victims of auto collisions. That binocular vision comes at a price, they have virtually no collateral vision whatsoever. So, when they're focused on game around a road, they'll often crash right into a moving vehicle, frequently breaking wings, etc and dying an ignoble death not befitting them on the side of the road . 

 They're top of their food chain, but not of our world.

 

-Guido in TX

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Yeah, my buddy drives a truck, and a red tailed hawk had just picked up something from the median and was trying to fly across the road. My friend couldn't slow down enough to avoid it, the hawk looked up at the last minute with a definite "OH SHIT!" look on it's face.  :(

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We have a pair of hawks here, they fledged 2 young last year. For a while there were 4 hawks working the  place over, they love to play with the thermals, sometimes

with a snake or lizard in their grasp. Lots of Cardinals, Scrub Jays, Buntings ,Doves etc. but the funniest are the Humming Birds. We have a Humming Bird war that has been going on all summer! One day I was right in the middle, one of the hummers was using my head to hide from the other, so rrrrrrooommmmmm. rrrrrrooooommmmmmm- little winged fuckers buzzing all around my head!

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