Posted on 07/29/2018 9:18:49 PM PDT by EinNYC
This is NYC, not rural NJ. This is what makes this so weird. While my neighbor's 18 month old and 3 year old daughters were happily splashing around in a little pool in the yard, a red tailed hawk landed on the porch railing not 10' from the little girls. My neighbor shot several pics with her cell phone. She would have called me over, knowing I'm an avid birder, but I had just left in my car on an errand. Scared that the raptor might hurt her kids, she grabbed them and took them inside. I guess Mr. Hawk was interested in the flock of sparrows always hanging around or maybe one of the pesky squirrels who like to dig up my garden plants. Or maybe it was interested in the water in the pool. Who knows?
Must explain squirrels attacking my children
Kids are basically veal to predators!
Great pics EinNYC.I have lot’s of stories about red tails but we just came back from a trip where 3 Bald Eagles had a nest next to the lake.We were lake front so saw all the action.It was a Mom,Dad and teenager.The Teen would call out and the parents would fly around the lake looking for fish for him.Our sons were on the boat fishing and one of the Eagles flew over their heads and went for the ducks in front of them.The ducks swam for the shore and hid.Last year while watching the webcam for the baby eagles one of the parents threw a dead cat into the nest.Grandson has pictures but he hasn’t posted them yet.
Our smallest cat decided a big blue heron looked tasty or maybe he thought she looked tasty.I may need to borrow him.
One of those big blue b@st@rds decided to use our fish pond as a breakfast buffet a while back. Lost all of our koi.
I hate raptors..should all be shot.
If you ever feel like you’re being followed in the woods at night, turn around and look up. It’s happened to me a few times, hiking out on elk trails. People sometimes catch owls on their game cameras, juxtaposed with game animals. Deer scares a vole or mouse, owl swoops in. Watched a Short-Eared Owl shadow my dog on a dawn walk, once.
I’ve always thought my husband’s predator call sounded similar to the excited shriek of a toddler.
, and I can't click on the link from there.With that "Yankee Flipper", it almost looks more fun to watch the squirrels than to watch the birds! :-)
Yesterday, I found this youtube video, and I thought the third method the guy talked about in the video was interesting (where the squirrel's weight closes the feeding ports on the feeder).
I read in, IIRC, Elmer Keith's "Hell, I was There" of eagles killing lambs that were too big to carry. They'd cut the carcass in two and carry the pieces back separately.
It's common that hawks get run over as they don't fly out of the way of cars if they have their prey.
My morning run took me along a trail in the local River Bend Park. The trail follows a sort of dike between the river and the gravel pit lake, both are near, but nether is very visible from the trail. Shortly after leaving the forested zone on the dike into the low land tall grassy meadow, I heard what I now call “a large flapping” noise just behind me. I looked around and there was a great blue heron in the air in an escape mode less then 10 feet away.
Beautiful!
20 years ago we were near the Grand Tetons national park, and a guy had set up a “show” with about 8 or 10 raptors. Some of them he had on perches with leashes. Several hawks were free. He said he let them free during the summer to feed themselves, and during the show he would call them in.
I put on a heavy leather glove, and held a chicken leg over my head. He called and a peregrine falcon came flying in at about knee level and swooped up my front to land on the glove. It was spectacular!!! I was surprised at both the weight of the bird (it was heavy) and the strength of its feet/talons.
We love the hawks and owls and we have a peregrine falcon in our neighborhood. Redtailed hawks have been too protected and now there are just too many of them. They need to be thinned out a little in our area.
It's a bird feeder. Hawks are birds. Squirrels are bird food.
Cicero had a real thing for 'em.
Jack the Enforcer.
We were just given a Schoodle yesterday. About 10 lbs.
We’re gonna have to keep a sharp eye out now.
Sweet. Love birds..(except raptors)
See these guys all over NJ. C’mon though. These little guys aren’t big enough to go picking up a kid. Get a grip.
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