Brutal Nature

[Alex Middleton]

Sitting here chilling in the AC and there was a commotion on the porch.  I looked out and saw a flurry of feathers and thought maybe a young bird had gotten himself trapped under the overhang.  Then I looked down and saw this:

 

Not something you get to see every day.  Quite a big meal for a little hawk.

 

 

Edited July 18, 2020 by Alex Middleton

[Chadd S.]

Always loved hawks, and not just because they scare away noisy songbirds that wake me up at 4 am. They're just cool animals.

[Gerald Boggs]

You must not be a owner of chickens :-)  Hawks were the only predator I couldn't protect the chickens from.  But yes, seeing a hawk strike is cool.

[Doug Lester]

Try catching the site of an owl strike caught in the light of your headlights while driving a dark country road at night.  They're impressive but I'm sure the mouse, vole, or what ever wasn't impressed.

 

Doug

[Gerhard Gerber]

Long as I can remember growing up I wanted a pet hawk, thought it was just too cool.....

Got a bit of a wake-up call when friends picked up a hawk that broke it's wing in a collision with a car and kept it in their garage.

 

My friend's older brother had to catch it at some point and it opened him up right through a welding glove.....

 

Now I just love seeing them in nature, the smaller they are the more they intrigue me.

 

Very cool Alex

[Garry Keown]

[C Craft]

I live on a dead end street in a cul-de-sac in the county, here in Florida. One day on my way in to town. I see this bird. I think it was a male Brown Thrasher. There is a female about six feet away. The ole boy is strutting his stuff! He is dancing, spreading his wings fully and kicking up the dirt in an attempt to impress the female. I was sitting in my truck, fully involved in watching the dance he was putting on. When all of the sudden a there was a hawk came diving in at full speed. Locked his talons on the small bird and began to peck him with its beak! 

 

All I could think was, I didn't see that coming, ........ and neither did he! 

Mother nature and her creatures are amazing!!

[Alex Middleton]

That's for sure.  I've seen hawks take rabbits and squirrels while out hunting.  I think the coolest part about this one was that it was literally 3ft away from where I was sitting.

[Doug Lester]

That picture of the owl just about to strike that mouse is fantastic.  They're such majestic animals.

 

Doug

[Joshua States]

Birds of prey are unbelievably awesome. They are even more awe inspiring when you see them up close and personal.

I have had two close encounters. The first was while rock climbing in California at Taquitz Cliff. I was at the top of the cliff belaying my wife up the last pitch when a falcon chasing a small bird flew within a foot or two of my head. The sound was deafening as the black streak zoomed by. I heard that sound again while sitting in a ground blind hunting for deer. About 25 wild turkeys came into the tank for a drink. While they stood along the rim, I suddenly heard that noise as a brown eagle swooped down and tried to grab one of them. He missed, and the turkeys scattered squawking and cluttering in circles. I saw the eagle roost in the pine in front of me. Huge bird.

[Raymond Richard]

Around the middle of July I went to take the car battery out of my old Nissan. Lifted up the hood and saw this image. Shortly after I'd seen the baby rabbit and assorted rabbit parts up pops the head of a weasel. As soon as it saw me it got out of Dodge lickade split.  Next time I look under that hood I'll have me a weasel getter. 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Raymond Richard

[Brian Dougherty]

Well, at least that was on the intake.  It would have smelled interesting had MR. Weasel left the innards on the exhaust manifold 

[Brian Madigan]

My cats bring in whole rabbits and eat them outside my door.  They eat everything but the eyeballs and hindquarters, so I find these eyeballs on the floor in the morning.