Saw amazing today...

G

Glenn/RZ500

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Standing up close to the window overlooking my deck. A Dove has been sitting on a bench right outside the window, out of the icy breeze and in the warm sun for about an hour or so. In a split second the window is filled with red-tailed Hawk, swooping in hard on the brakes and talons/feet out. Big explosion of Dove feathers and in an eye blink the Hawk was gone with it`s prey. I looked up the Hawk, about a 3 foot wingspan, a beautiful creature. I`ve never seen anything like it, from two feet away. Wow!
 
Glenn/RZ500 said:
Standing up close to the window overlooking my deck. A Dove has been sitting on a bench right outside the window, out of the icy breeze and in the warm sun for about an hour or so. In a split second the window is filled with red-tailed Hawk, swooping in hard on the brakes and talons/feet out. Big explosion of Dove feathers and in an eye blink the Hawk was gone with it`s prey. I looked up the Hawk, about a 3 foot wingspan, a beautiful creature. I`ve never seen anything like it, from two feet away. Wow!
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Our house has mourning doves nest out front regularly. We’ve witnessed more than one hawk grab breakfast or lunch right in front of our kitchen window. It’s amazing to see and always wish we had a way to video or take a pic as it happens.


Which reminds me last fall, riding the parkway on the K12 and saw a Bald Eagle snatch a salmon out of the river and literally fly directly above me close enough to seem like I could have touched them. It was more like 20 feet in the air but, seemed so close. Watched it continue to fly on to someplace to enjoy its meal.
 
Ha - very similar to my experience with a big red tail.
Sitting working at my desk with tall windows open, no screens on the second floor and a big cherry tree right against the house that went up a few meters higher than the window.
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I hear this crash and turned to look and big hawk staring straight at me with a twitching starling in it's talons. That close, you realize how big those talons are - easily the size of my fist....and what a glare from the hawk.
My hand crept towards the camera but then he thrashed his way out of the tree and was gone.
Very vivid experience.

Doves would nest on the ledge of that window
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few weeks later
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Loved that huge bedroom. See the seasons change but that hawk was a treat as I had the window next to me wide open.
 
nakkers said:
Which reminds me last fall, riding the parkway on the K12 and saw a Bald Eagle snatch a salmon out of the river and literally fly directly above me close enough to seem like I could have touched them. It was more like 20 feet in the air but, seemed so close. Watched it continue to fly on to someplace to enjoy its meal.
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If you fly in Alaska there is a running joke from the pilots about the only reported salmon strike.
Lots of bird strikes ...fish?? not so much.
Plane on take off....eagle dropped the salmon as it was getting out of the way of the plane.
The tower got a laugh.
 
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Glenn/RZ500 said:
Standing up close to the window overlooking my deck. A Dove has been sitting on a bench right outside the window, out of the icy breeze and in the warm sun for about an hour or so. In a split second the window is filled with red-tailed Hawk, swooping in hard on the brakes and talons/feet out. Big explosion of Dove feathers and in an eye blink the Hawk was gone with it`s prey. I looked up the Hawk, about a 3 foot wingspan, a beautiful creature. I`ve never seen anything like it, from two feet away. Wow!
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That's the type of thing we had to watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom for.
 
Dump runs in Nova Scotia we'd see a row of seagulls on a pile of dirt and you could watch the eagles come grab one at will.

Our cat follows us around outside and if he wanders too far from us you'll see a hawk or two start circling quite low above us.
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
Dump runs in Nova Scotia we'd see a row of seagulls on a pile of dirt and you could watch the eagles come grab one at will.

Our cat follows us around outside and if he wanders too far from us you'll see a hawk or two start circling quite low above us.
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Growing up in the boonies in NS ive seen cats and barn rats have some battles.
 
Still was fun to watch. Not too much of that anymore.
Had a wonderfull moment on Vancouver Island.
A tiny fawn no taller than my riding boots came galloping up the road mistaking the Vstrom for mom I guess.
I had enough time to get the camera out and take a series of shots as he bounced along.
Stopped right beside me...figured it was not quite on and scampered into the bush. Magical. 🪄
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Had a similar thing happen in our back yard a few years ago. Sitting on the back deck enjoying a brew and suddenly there was an explosion of feathers in the centre of the yard. We never saw what kind of bird of prey it was and we think the prey might have been a sparrow from what was left floating down in the air. One thing though, it was eerily quiet for several minuets after as all the birds just stopped chirping.
 
I have a little buddy that stops by to check if there's any treats scurrying about in the microenvironment beside/behind the garage.

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klr_guy said:
That's cool. I'm fortunate to back on conservation land, so rabbits/squirrels/dumb doves galore. I've seen red smears in the snow and mowed over rabbit remains, but never witnessed the kill.
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I'm in a similar situation. Have a ravine from one of the creeks coming off the escarpment and protected land across the street. Not uncommon to have deer wandering down the street and there are always hawks circling overhead hunting. The little Cooper Hawk is the only one that comes to the yard.

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Hardwrkr13 said:
Dump runs in Nova Scotia we'd see a row of seagulls on a pile of dirt and you could watch the eagles come grab one at will.

Our cat follows us around outside and if he wanders too far from us you'll see a hawk or two start circling quite low above us.
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I saw something like that last the fall. Some seagulls were picking garbage in the Beer store parking lot, a bald eagle swooped in and carried one off.

Bald eagles have replaced all the gulls at our local landfill site.
 
Mad Mike said:
I saw something like that last the fall. Some seagulls were picking garbage in the Beer store parking lot, a bald eagle swooped in and carried one off.

Bald eagles have replaced all the gulls at our local landfill site.
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I've seen it a few times and you'd think the other seagulls would scatter when it happens but they just keep on doing what they're doing and accept that it's going to happen.
 
Sea Eagles in Cairns have taken to snacking on flying foxes as they roost in trees during the day right in the CBD. Not my photos as I could not hang around playing twitcher while friends twiddled their thumbs.
The eagle was clearly lining up to grab one of the dozens of bats sleeping.
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They used to fly overhead by the hundreds as they moved to their night time feeding grounds in the rain forest. Sadly the downtown colonies were forced out and the endangered mammals poorly managed so I only see two or three on an evening.
Bats occasionally populate one of our fig trees in our back yard and the noise and droppings get on partners nerves. They are VERY noisy as they feed at night. :sneaky:
 
MacDoc said:
Sea Eagles in Cairns have taken to snacking on flying foxes as they roost in trees during the day right in the CBD. Not my photos as I could not hang around playing twitcher while friends twiddled their thumbs.
The eagle was clearly lining up to grab one of the dozens of bats sleeping.
View attachment 77879

View attachment 77880

They used to fly overhead by the hundreds as they moved to their night time feeding grounds in the rain forest. Sadly the downtown colonies were forced out and the endangered mammals poorly managed so I only see two or three on an evening.
Bats occasionally populate one of our fig trees in our back yard and the noise and droppings get on partners nerves. They are VERY noisy as they feed at night. :sneaky:
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The site you linked, phys.org is great. I stumbled on it a while ago and check it daily.
 
MacDoc said:
Sea Eagles in Cairns have taken to snacking on flying foxes as they roost in trees during the day right in the CBD. Not my photos as I could not hang around playing twitcher while friends twiddled their thumbs.
The eagle was clearly lining up to grab one of the dozens of bats sleeping.
View attachment 77879

View attachment 77880

They used to fly overhead by the hundreds as they moved to their night time feeding grounds in the rain forest. Sadly the downtown colonies were forced out and the endangered mammals poorly managed so I only see two or three on an evening.
Bats occasionally populate one of our fig trees in our back yard and the noise and droppings get on partners nerves. They are VERY noisy as they feed at night. :sneaky:
Click to expand...
Years ago a contractor cleared (illegally) a big portion of a woodlot I share with a neighbouring property. A healthy bat population and a couple of owls were displaced, gone forever.

The town installed a few bat rooms and after a while they came back. Not sure why, but after being here a few years… they’re gone again.

When they were here, we rarely got bothered by mosquitos. Wgen they leave, it’s itchy at dusk.
 
Mad Mike said:
Years ago a contractor cleared (illegally) a big portion of a woodlot I share with a neighbouring property. A healthy bat population and a couple of owls were displaced, gone forever.

The town installed a few bat rooms and after a while they came back. Not sure why, but after being here a few years… they’re gone again.

When they were here, we rarely got bothered by mosquitos. Wgen they leave, it’s itchy at dusk.
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Around 1980 I went on a tour with a company called Western Adventures. About 14 or so met up in Vegas and we toured the SW for two weeks. It was run by a guy named Volker Beer who left his his corporate BMW job and moved to Tucson. We all got different bikes, R65, R80 and R100 depending on...most rode 2 up, I was solo on the R65. He had a bus that carried all our gear ahead of us to our daily lodging as well as a spare bike and parts. Long story short,..it was fabulous. Now the bat thing. One afternoon we pulled into a desert lodge and we all had dinner and all got totally ar**holed drunk, most of the tour group was German or Austrian with 2 Americans and one Brit. At dusk we got a volleyball game going and bats started appearing from nearby hillsides, caves I`d figure. Within a few minutes there were, no kidding, likely thousands of `em whizzing around us and the big lot lights, most of the German women ran screaming as I LMAO. Nature can be so awesome, never saw anything like it.
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