Saw a Red-tailed Hawk above the pasture.

[George McGovern]

[Skittles]

1. magnificent!

[George McGovern]

4. Thank You Skittles!

[HAB911]

2. nice!

[George McGovern]

5. Thanks!

[Diamond_Dog]

3. Oh, what a beautiful capture, George!

[George McGovern]

6. Thank You Diamond_Dog!

[twodogsbarking]

7. Thanks George. Tell the squirrels to hide.

[Old Crank]

10. see reply 9 second part

[George McGovern]

11. HA! Okay! We'll give 'em fair warning. Thank You.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Wonderful capture! Thank you, my dear Allan.

[Old Crank]

9. Very nice.

A couple of raptor stroies.

I came home from work at Stanford and my XFrau (exwife) asked me to dispose of the pidgeon head on the patio. Evidently while she was studying she saw movement. Looked out and there was the bird head on the patio. She went out to see which kid had tossed the head into our yard. No kids to be seen. She hears a noise and looks up. There is a big redtail on the gutter with a pidgeon in its claws. She goes nevermind and goes back in.

Second. I'm riding my bike past some farmland outside of Munich. The farmer is turnign the soil over. Above him is some raptor. Who proceeds to dive down behind the tractor and fly off with a writhing ground animal of some kind. Smart bird.

[twodogsbarking]

12. A very nice gentleman who worked on our farm was befriended by a Pheasant that would ride on the hood

of his tractor. One day it went for his face and scratched his nose until it bled, a lot. . Last ride for the fowl thing.

[George McGovern]

14. Last ride indeed! I hope your friend healed up alright! I found this account on reddit.com --

"Hand-reared pheasants can be fearless and very aggressive towards people and machines on their territory. Generally they don't single out one person, they'll attack anyone on their turf. Only cure I know is pheasant stew."

Homemade stew for supper?

Thanks wodogsbarking!!

[twodogsbarking]

15. I lived a mile from my Dad years back. He called on cold morning in early fall and said he couldn't get in his

basement door because there were pheasants trying to get in the warm and he needed help chasing them off. The Game Commission had released them a few days earlier and they weren't used to the wild. In Pa., game, and in particular deer are a big draw from other states. It owns 1.5 million acres and dictates what it wants. The state has more deer vehicle accidents than any other state but, hey, look at the stock market.

[George McGovern]

13. Whoa - cool stories. Your x's reaction, she didn't seem to mind. I used to ride a lot.

In my 20s and 30s, I rode mostly short commutes to work, but also some nice, long solo rides. I'll never forget pedaling easily on a straightaway country road past a small road crew working on the other side. They kept a'working with no notice of my silent passing. And I thought how neat was that. I entered a space in place and time on my bicycle and didn't disturb anything except some molecules pushed aside from my path.

Seeing that raptor doing what comes natural must have been a thrill. You're right.

Smart bird.