I can not believe what I just saw.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I was setting at my desk in the shop office & saw a bird fly by. Something looked strange. I grabbed my binoculars & took a look. It was a large hawk carring a squirrel. I have lived here 26 years & I have never seen a
hawk that large, let alone one carring a squirrel.

[Dick Adair]

Chris, a Redtail hawk will do that occasionly. I have seen them in my trees more than once. I have seen them take rabbits but never fly with them. That's over their limit. (I think)

[David G Baker]

My neighbor belongs to Pheasants Forever, last year he gave me 10 birds that were at release age and he wanted them to be released away from his property because he does not have any protection for the birds where I have 5 acres of trees, swamp and butt up to another neighbors 20 acres of trees. The LOML and I stood at our sliding glass door and watched as a hawk (not sure of the type)feasting on one of the pheasants about two weeks after we released them. Not sure how many others of the ten that it got.
We also feed ground feeding birds like doves, we frequently see a blur fly by with a dove trailing its feathers from the hawks beak. From watching hawk behaviors I learned that they pluck most of the feathers prior to dining on the flesh. It may be gross but that is how it is on a daily basis when living in a semi rural area.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

We live in an urban environment. Typical suburbia with "houses on lots" and within 1/2 mile of the local Country/Municipal airport with 3 airlines flying into it and occasionally a "big" jet flying in college sports teams to play WSU or University of Idaho.

My wife for several years had 3 bird feeders. She quit feeding them after she/we saw several hawks......5 or 6 over a 4 week period of time..take birds right off the feeder. Mom Fitzgeralds avarian buffet went out of business!:rolleyes:

[David G Baker]

Hawks gotta eat too. The topic of feeding the hawks came up after the first beautiful (as described by the LOML) hawk snatched a dove off of the ground right in front of her. The hawks fell from grace as a beautiful bird. After the pheasant was eaten she wanted me to load the rifle but I talked her into forgiving the hawks.
She spends a lot of time on line watching the eagles nesting and raising their young at the Botanical Gardens in Virginia, hope she never sees what an eagle can to to a living creature. She just went to the eagle site and found that the eagles have three new chicks.

[Chris Rosenberger]

I have seen small hawks snatch birds from my bird feeders. Well I should say I saw a something flash by & then I saw a small cloud of feathers floating to the ground.

[John Shuk]

I was working in a bucket truck once and heard a horrible sound. I turned around and across the street from me at the same height was a hawk eviscerating a squirrel before eating it.
Rough way to go.

[Rick Moyer]

On the golf course last summer I was lucky enough to see a bald eagle flying around. Normally there are lots of squirrels around, but as someone in the group pointed out, there were none to be seen while that eagle was around!
Another time many years ago there was a great horned owl dead along the roadway with a broken wing. About 75' from it was a grouse that had apparently been in the claws of the owl when I suspect they were both hit by a truck. We turned the owl over to a local wildlife agency.

[Frank Hagan]

We kept missing goldfish out of our garden pond, and blamed either racoons or hawks. One morning we woke up to find a great blue heron standing in the pond, spearing and eating the goldfish.

We went out to chase him away. The thing was three feet tall, and flew away only after we got about 6 feet away from it. He didn't look that concerned about us.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I've been lucky enough to be fishing in high mountain lakes and have seen both eagles and osprey take fish from the body of water in which I was also fishing. One afternoon we watched an eagle take, at least, 3 fish and later we were able to see it's nest back in the timber near the lake.

[Jim O'Dell]

Two weeks ago, we picked up 2 then 10 week old pups...Irish Setter/Irish Red and White mixes. They were 12 lbs each then. Seems when we go outside for potty and exercise breaks, within about 5 minutes, there are 3 hawks circling above. We never leave them out alone. This morning LOML brought them back in as she was getting nervous. The pups are 16-17 lbs each now. I'll let the hawks have all the mice and squirrels it wants. Jim.

[Ron Bontz]

My coworkers sister let her little dog out in the back yard only to have an owl swoop down and get the little guy. Basic Darwinism indeed.

[Greg Peterson]

I love watching all the birds in our area. We have a couple of Western Screech owls in our area that make a soothing whistling/cooing sound in the night. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, if I hear them, I'll just lay there and listen to them. Here's what they sound (http://www.owlpages.com/owls.php?genus=Megascops&species=kennicottii) like.

And every spring, without fail, our resident Anna hummingbirds manage to scare me. Just last week I was out weeding a bed and one of the hummers buzzed me, just to let me know whose yard it was! They are the most fascinating, humorous, curious and fearless bird around. Bar none.

We do occasionally see a hawk in the area, but usually it is simply cruising through. Had one hawk land on a stack of pallets at work one day. Couple of guys were standing just slightly out of arms reach of the raptor. It just sat there looking at them as if there was nothing unusual about a hawk perched on a stack of pallets in the middle of the city. Sat there for a few minutes, then flew about ten yards and perched on top of the fence for another few minutes. Just checking everyone out.

[Kevin Arceneaux]

I know when the redtail is here, not a squirrel to be seen in the trees.

[Joe Pelonio]

Send that hawk here! We have plenty of extra squirrels and I'd love to have some of the little buggers eaten.:cool:

We just came back from a walk along the lake, and watched a bald eagle munching a fish up in an alder tree just a few feet away. Luckily it had no leaves yet or it would have been hidden.

[Ted Calver]

Chris...Can I borrow your hawk for about a week. I'm over run by squirrels!!

[Jim Becker]

We kept missing goldfish out of our garden pond, and blamed either racoons or hawks. One morning we woke up to find a great blue heron standing in the pond, spearing and eating the goldfish.

We went out to chase him away. The thing was three feet tall, and flew away only after we got about 6 feet away from it. He didn't look that concerned about us.

We have heron issues in the late fall with our pond off the patio...he/she got four of our fish and almost got a fifth. (Which I rescued just in time) We bought a net to go over the pond now at that time of the year...keeps leaves and the big, gray bird. I have to say, though, it's amazing how maneuverable that heron can be coming down to land and get a meal. I actually saw it come in one day (right before the net came to be) and it was like an Harrier doing a short deck landing. The remaining ten fish had a peaceful winter and are now working really hard ;) on replacing the four that left them via airmail and the other two that passed on "naturally" last year.

We do have red tails and some other hawk varieties. In fact, I was standing under one not long ago just out back...we were both looking each other in the eye. There was a squirrel it had in mind for dinner, but said squirrel was pretty smart and managed to stay completely on the other side of a tree from where the hawk was lurking until the bird grew bored of waiting around.

[Keith Outten]

Chris...Can I borrow your hawk for about a week. I'm over run by squirrels!!

Ted,

There is hope. Recently we have started seeing Bald Eagles in my area, they are starting to migrate from the Federal Protected area in the James River up from Hog Island. There are more Hawks than usual the last few years as well. I am not seeing near as many squirrels this year as I normally do here in Gloucester County. I hope the larger Eagles will help me get rid of the dang ground hogs :)
.

[David G Baker]

I feed surplus red and black squirrels to a fox or coyote when they start to over run my place. Before the gas price went up I would live trap them and transport them to the forest, now lead is cheaper than fuel.

Keith,
Try to find out where your ground hogs are living and set a large live trap that is stocked with some cabbage and a few carrots close to that location. It may take a few days but they will eventually go into your trap. Not sure what Virginia laws are when it comes to critters being moved but if you don't advertise you should be able to move them to a preserve and they should live happily ever after. Ground hogs do a tremendous amount of damage to property. A garden may not stand a chance if you have them on your property.
We have a few Bald Eagles in my area but I don't get to see them very often.

[Jacob Mac]

We live in an urban environment. Typical suburbia with "houses on lots" and within 1/2 mile of the local Country/Municipal airport with 3 airlines flying into it and occasionally a "big" jet flying in college sports teams to play WSU or University of Idaho.

My wife for several years had 3 bird feeders. She quit feeding them after she/we saw several hawks......5 or 6 over a 4 week period of time..take birds right off the feeder. Mom Fitzgeralds avarian buffet went out of business!:rolleyes:


I live out in the country, and our birdfeeder had to go the way of the buffalo for that very reason.

Hawks are magnificent animals. And they are sublimely adapted for killing. There are a lot of interesting youtube videos of eagles and hawks. If you haven't seen them, they are worthwhile.

[scott spencer]

I've heard of red tailed hawks grabbing pidgeons too.

[Barry Nelson]

Neighours and I were standing around the front of our villas one morning ,dozy old pigeon was perched on a nearby fence enjoying the early morning sun,next minute explosion of feathers,bang, no more pigeon.
They're good, dont know where he came from, but he certainly cleaned up the pigeon.:eek:

[Keith Outten]

David,

I have been fighting the ground hog problem for about three years. Last year I was successful at shooting the entire lot but yesterday I found a new hole on the back side of my barn. The critter was unsuccessful getting under the concrete footing but I know he will just move to another building and we will do battle.

I have a steel trap but hadn't had any success with it, I must have been using the wrong bait. My 22 rifle with a scope has a good track record though :)

Your right about ground hogs and the damage they can do and if I catch one in my trap it won't be going to any preserve or live happily ever after :) Normally I try to leave animals alone but ground hogs are so destructive I wouldn't want to take the chance that someone else would have to deal with them somewhere else.

I would prefer an eagle or a hawk to do the job for me, all God's creatures need to eat.
.

[Rick Moyer]

Keith, here's your answer!




I don't know if anyone else got the e-mail about the eagle vs. the duck, but I found this link that hopefully shows it. The pictures in the e-mail were beautiful!
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=9f2_1237114874

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,

I have been fighting the ground hog problem for about three years.
We had a big fat groundhog thing in the back yard.
It used to torment the Great Dane by being there, then scurry under the opening at the bottom of the fence when we'd let the Dane out.
One day it zigged when it should have zagged and the Dane cornered it.

It reared up on it's back legs and lunged at the Dane's throat.
It managed to get it's teeth locked around the collar - and fortunately no Great Dane parts in between.

The Dane freaked out and started tearing around the yard w/this big fat groundhog thing hanging from his collar like some deranged necktie.

I laughed so hard I hurt myself :D.

[Rob Cunningham]

Keith,
We had a groundhog for the last few years but I think I got rid of it last summer. I put the garden hose down the hole and turned it on. After about 10 mins the groundhog came out. I then gave the same treatment to all the holes. Then I poured a few gallons of ammonia in each hole followed by a good amount of cayenne pepper. Haven't seen him since :D

[Scott Loven]

I saw about 50 bald eagles last month eating the left-overs from a slaughter house that had been spread on a farmers field.

Scott

[Carlos Alden]

Last fall I was walking in our local park, around the duck pond, and saw a hawk swoop up from the water with a little duckling wriggling in its mouth. I looked back to where he had just come from and saw a frantic looking mama duck trying to herd her kiddos together, and was obviously missing one.

Ah, nature. It's only our sensitivities that put value judgment on what happens.

Carlos

[Craig D Peltier]

Ive been with falconers several times and watched these animals hunt. What was most amazing to me was a two videos I can think of. One was in europe somewhere , it may be on youtube. It had a horrific soundtrack like a bad movie an it was Golden Eagles knocking goats or sheep off of cliffs and even gliding with them.
Another one I saw and is still practiced here in the US is the Golden Eagles hunting in the midwest and catching coyotes and jack rabbits.
Redtails largest quarry is Rabbits or thye will attack a small weiner type dog from time to time.There too slow to catch ducks. Thats left to Gyr Falcons , Goshawks and Peregrines.
Redtails will pluck alot of feathers off but have no problem eating feathers. They eat the bones an all and store it in there crop. It will digest an leave the body from the wrong end in a neat pellet.
There very sensitive to weight , thye have ti hunt often , there pretty small under all those feathers. Maybe three days without eating and there done. One broken flight feather and there done. Squirrels bite them really bad in there feet too an there known to have killed some birds after the fact from infections.Thats why you see falconers put leather over there ankles.

[Myk Rian]

We have hawks around here also. Every now and then we find a pile of feathers or rabbit fur.

[David G Baker]

Keith,
There is a dog that has been bred speciffically for going into critter holes and killing them. I think they were bred for groundhogs but not positive. I haven't had enough ground hogs to have to start shooting them but if the time comes I have a shovel handy or I will feed them to the critters that come around at night.
Rich E,
Now that Great Dane story is one to tell your grand children. You sure painted a picture in my mind. Thanks for sharing, you made my day.

[Jerry Bruette]

It's not uncommon for a bird feeder to become a "bird" feeder if you know what I mean. We have a nesting pair of bald eagles right across the road from our house and we see them frequently. The shadow they cast can appear to be pretty ominus when they're flying low.

The picture below is a barred owl sitting on our bird feeder about 20 yards from the house, in the backyard. We've had a nesting pair of them in the neighborhood for most of the 20 years we've lived here. Haven't seen anything picked out of the feeder though. I think the birds have enough cover in the trees. Had to stop it from being a cat feeder once though.:)

114966

[Chris Padilla]

Send that hawk here! We have plenty of extra squirrels and I'd love to have some of the little buggers eaten.:cool:

Agree...my oak tree is full of squirrels that seem to like constantly sharpening their teeth on all my garden furntiture and pool equipment! :mad:

Biking home from work last Friday, I saw one sitting on the chain link fence on one of the bike paths that followed a busy freeway. I nearly wrecked as it looked at me (scary looking bird that close up!) but the bird lazily fluttered off as if it was saying to me, "I'm not leaving because of you...I just feel like going over here now...." :D

[Craig D Peltier]

Here's part of the video I spoke of.The one I saw in a email was longer.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=91c_1195412102