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Post by swampsniper on Jan 13, 2008 3:03:00 GMT -5
This big female Red Shouldered hawk is top of the food chain in my yard, nothing moves that she doesn't see. She will let me come within 10 feet, I'm not going to push my luck getting closer.  |
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Post by monty57 on Jan 13, 2008 10:30:06 GMT -5
Great picture!
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Post by tyrssen on Jan 13, 2008 12:06:04 GMT -5
What a beauty!
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Post by tomtom on Jan 13, 2008 23:46:37 GMT -5
Great picture Swamp! We have one that hangs around the neighborhood.
About a year before I retired, I was walking down the hall with the Budget Officer. He was carrying a cardboard box and I heard a cooo, cooo sound. "What do you have in the box," I asked. "That's my bird", he said. Turns out that he owned a falcon. He brought him to work so he could hunt him on the way home. Apparently, if you feed them and don't make them go get their own groceries 3 or 4 times a week, they get lazy. Kind of like people. ;D
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Post by rerun2 on Jan 14, 2008 12:54:18 GMT -5
I bet you could domesticate that critter, if you wanted too! All the birds of prey from owls to hawks are highly intelligent, as birds go... I really think a lot of it is because they really are not scared of people, just wary! ;d
Personally I would let it do as it pleases, she is probably used to you and your antics already, and she will let you know if she wants to be friends!
Great photo by the way, one elegant bird!
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Post by cathouse on Jan 14, 2008 14:42:54 GMT -5
I had a nest of Cooper's hawk in my yard that raised two chicks, they feed those chicks about everthing, I saw snakes, birds, squirels and mice . voles, and things i couldn.t idenify. your hawk looks like a Cooper to me. They just might take off with a small dog or cat.
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Post by swampsniper on Jan 14, 2008 15:36:59 GMT -5
I had a nest of Cooper's hawk in my yard that raised two chicks, they feed those chicks about everthing, I saw snakes, birds, squirels and mice . voles, and things i couldn.t idenify. your hawk looks like a Cooper to me. They just might take off with a small dog or cat. Got both around here, the Coopers don't have much contrast on the back feathers. These pics aren't to scale.  |
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Post by earlwb on Jan 14, 2008 17:32:34 GMT -5
Cool, awesome pics.
All we have is some run of the mill common birds and a plue jay or two, sometimes a robin drops by. Sometime during the spring some crows meander through. Plus Squirrels, and a raccoon or two and some opossoms from time to time. The raccoon has gotten huge. But I haven't seen him lately though.
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Post by swampsniper on Jan 14, 2008 17:41:04 GMT -5
I fled town about 20 years ago, didn't like it and it didn't like me ;D I love it out here in the woods and swamp. You never know what will show up in the yard and some of it is even edible ;D I once shot a nice hog through the living room window, good thing the window was open. ;D
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Post by scooterollie on Jan 14, 2008 18:02:51 GMT -5
Swamp, you are sounding like a real West, by God, Virginia native!
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Post by rerun2 on Jan 14, 2008 18:10:41 GMT -5
That wild hog might have been my ex, but no, you said it was a NICE wild hog... ;D  ;D |
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Post by swampsniper on Jan 14, 2008 18:28:01 GMT -5
Swamp, you are sounding like a real West, by God, Virginia native! Do you know where Honaker, Virginia is? |
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Post by tomtom on Jan 14, 2008 20:15:50 GMT -5
Earl - Don't forget about those armored pigs (armadillos). I think you Texans ran them out of the state and they came to Florida! I see road kill now and then. One of them wanders thru my yard now and then rooting up the composting leaves in the flower beds. Guess he's looking for grubs or worms. Can you eat those things? Guess you would need an axe to open him up!  |
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Post by swampsniper on Jan 14, 2008 20:45:08 GMT -5
POSSUM ON THE HALFSHELL ;D   |
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Post by earlwb on Jan 14, 2008 22:20:51 GMT -5
Armadillos are common throughout the Southeastern USA. Not just Texas. Yes you can eat them. There are some pretty good Armadillo recipes out there. For example: www.backwoodsbound.com/zarmadillo.htmlBuuuuutttt......Nine-banded armadillos, of which there are 30 to 50 million in the southeastern U.S., are believed to be the only significant natural reservoir of leprosy apart from humans. Armadillos are a really good lab subject for the study of leprosy too. Fortunately more than 95% of the human population is immune to leprosy. But wash your hands real good and cook the meat good to kill any bacteria and parasites. Armadillos can jump really high if surprised. One guy got cold-cocked hard by a Armadillo when he went to whack it with a baseball bat one day out in his garden. The junping is usually what gets them killed when a automobile or truck passes over them, they jump and get hit by the vehicle. Watch out on the roads too, hitting a armadillo on your scooter or motorcycle is the same as trying to ride over a tall curb at speed. You are going down hard. |
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Post by scooterollie on Jan 14, 2008 23:12:36 GMT -5
Swamp;
No, why?
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Post by swampsniper on Jan 14, 2008 23:50:09 GMT -5
About 90% of them are my cousins. |
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;D