An Interesting Experience

[IronNoggin]

Yesterday the dog and I were returning home from our afternoon stroll when I saw a dove winging between our house and the neighbors.
Having heard a Hoo Hoo (Eurasian Collared Dove) at distance the past couple of days, I was really staring at this one to see if he was the likely candidate.

Out of nowhere a dark streak slammed into the airborne dove with a load WHACK!

WTH??

The dove tumbled to the neighbor's lawn and I saw a Merlin make a swift turn back towards it.
The Merlin then landed and dispatched the crippled dove very efficiently.

The hound had not noticed, so I hurried her inside.
Poured myself a nice rum, and watched as the Merlin consumed his prey at no more than 15 feet.
The show went on for 45 minutes as he first plucked the dove, then chowed down on it.
And yeah, I was cheering him on the entire time!

I got a few pictures and even some video but they turned out somewhat blurry having been shot through the window:

My Lady wandered home just in time to watch him finish up and take once more to the sky.
I raised my glass in salute, and wished him All The Best in his hunting endeavors in our neighborhood.
Hope the little bugger hangs around.

All in all a very entertaining experience!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[N2013]

Nature is so awesome.

 

[Bueller]

Yesterday the dog and I were returning home from our afternoon stroll when I saw a dove winging between our house and the neighbors.
Having heard a Hoo Hoo (Eurasian Collared Dove) at distance the past couple of days, I was really staring at this one to see if he was the likely candidate.

Out of nowhere a dark streak slammed into the airborne dove with a load WHACK!

WTH??

The dove tumbled to the neighbor's lawn and I saw a Merlin make a swift turn back towards it.
The Merlin then landed and dispatched the crippled dove very efficiently.

The hound had not noticed, so I hurried her inside.
Poured myself a nice rum, and watched as the Merlin consumed his prey at no more than 15 feet.
The show went on for 45 minutes as he first plucked the dove, then chowed down on it.
And yeah, I was cheering him on the entire time!

I got a few pictures and even some video but they turned out somewhat blurry having been shot through the window:

My Lady wandered home just in time to watch him finish up and take once more to the sky.
I raised my glass in salute, and wished him All The Best in his hunting endeavors in our neighborhood.
Hope the little bugger hangs around.

All in all a very entertaining experience!

Cheers,
Nog

Cool that you got pictures of it! Got a small flock of them around my place outside Qualicum. Watched a Cooper’s hawk whack one a while back. Happened so quickly I was in awe!

 

[Totally unexpected]

Had the same type of experience one day at work with what I thought was a young redtail hawk and a pigeon trying to get into our shop didn't quite make it lol. Gotta love them raptors!!

 

[Capt_Ed]

We had a sparrow hawk hit a small Robin midair above the neighbour's yard while I was in my driveway about 20' away. The resulting ball of feathers was impressive

 

[Foxsea]

Some people see pigeons as just a nuisance. For the hawks, they are like a tasty burger. Too bad they can't take out geese.

 

[Kildonan]

Was walking back to work from a luncheon one day with my workmates. As a pigeon was flying by about 40 feet ahead of our group, a Cooper’s hawk came right out of nowhere and hit the pigeon knocking it to the ground, much to the horror of my work buddies. lol
After we finished work, I checked the scene and there was a pile of pigeon feathers next to the parking lot.

 

[winephart]

Back in the early 70's I lived in Vancouver's west end for a few years. They had a huge problem with pigeons. For a while, they sent a guy out at first light with a 22 to shoot them. This didn't last long as a lot of residents complained and the city's legal department was worried about liability. The answer to their problem was too establish a number of breeding pairs of Peregrine Falcons among the high rise buildings of the west end.
The falcons loved the new environment. Lots of fresh meat and lots of man made aeries for nesting.

 

[IronNoggin]

Years ago I flew a white phase Redtail while living in Alberta.
She was chiefly trained on pheasants, and did a fine job of that.

One of my longest lasting Buddies was the President of the North American Falconry Association for many years.
He flew Peregrines, Goshawks and Gyr's. Had a lot of fun with him over the years.
He also went off to Kazakhstan and lived with the Mongols there for a few months.
They flew Steppe Eagles (pretty close to our Golden Eagles) after wolves.
The Steppe Wolves are about 1/2 in size between our coyotes and timber wolves.
He brought back some downright amazing footage!

Regardless of how many times you've watched them in action, it never ever gets boring!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[IronNoggin]

Not for the squeamish! High speed take down:

 

[Rain City]

Not for the squeamish! High speed take down:

Incredible.

 

[seahorse]

We live next to a Dairy farm here in Courtenay and we planted pin oaks along the shared fence line. Last week I saw a red tailed hawk sitting in one of the pin oaks so I grabbed my binoculars and within 30 seconds he flew down into our back field, grabbed a snake and then sat on our fence post eating it, pretty cool.

 

[walleyes]

This being the view outside our living room windows we get quite a few good shows. It’s an old pasture that hasn’t been worked up in close to 50 years now so it supports quite a wide range of small animals. We often get to watch the hawks do their hunting. We are frequented by eagles as well being so close to all the lakes and rivers. There is also a very healthy population of Great Grey Owls in the area and we watch them often. I have had some all too close of encounters with the owls sitting in my tree stand at home. I’m not sure what it is, I think it’s the camo that gets them messed up as they’ll sit across from me and watch me for a long time then come in for a close look. I’ve had them land in branches next to me with in 10’. Couple years ago I had one come in for a look I had to actually duck, it scared the crap out of me.

 

[Fishless]

Sometimes I think they want to bond with you. Last March, I was sitting outside my garage carving something when a grouse appeared out of the brush and started hanging around,,,,I gave him a little attention,after that I couldn't shake him,,,,it got to the point of being creepy,,,,so I hopped on my ATV ...and he ran like mental to keep up,,,,so I floored it heading down the hill to the house,,,,he ran as fast as he could after me,,,,then took flight and landed on my shoulder,,,,,,eventually the dog at the house scared him off,,,,saw him briefly the next day,,,,,,,Seemed .like he fancied me as a friend ???

 

[IronNoggin]

I'll relate another encounter along somewhat similar lines...

I was out hunting pheasants with my dog in Southern Alberta. Driving from one area to another I spied a large group (several hundred) Canada Geese feeding right alongside an irrigation ditch. I instantly recognized that if the dog and I went up the ditch we would be out of their sight and could get basically right on top of them. So off we went to give it a try...

Got a couple hundred yards into the stalk when the horrendous noise (like thunder) of rapidly beating wings accompanied by the honks of hundreds of panicky geese ensued. Tiptoed up the bank just in time to see four geese break off from the main body and head our way. But the 4th actually wasn't a goose, rather a peregrine in a tail chase on the three larger birds. Ducking and weaving constantly, they were soon rather close. Just as the geese got over the berm edge, all three simply folded their wings and dropped into the water right in front of me with heavy crashing thuds. The falcon swung back towards the larger flock, not to be seen again.

I grinned at the dog, and thought to myself Out of the claws of one predator, and right smack into those of another. All three decided to come home with me and those grain fed wonders were certainly delicious!

Cheers,
Nog

 

[TipUp]

Pretty amazing what goshawks can do especially in tight forests