Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881056
06/09/23 11:04 AM
06/09/23 11:04 AM
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Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 34,923 Central, SD
Law Dog
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 34,923
Central, SD
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Nice pictures it’s tough to pick a favorite I like seeing them all really, during the migration periods we are thick with them.
Last edited by Law Dog; 06/09/23 11:04 AM.
Was born in a Big City Will die in the Country OK with that!
Jerry Herbst
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881089
06/09/23 12:01 PM
06/09/23 12:01 PM
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Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,337 The Hill Country of Texas
Leftlane
"HOSS"
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"HOSS"
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,337
The Hill Country of Texas
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Jack I sometimes wish we had camera phones when I was a boy. A momma screech owl raised her litter every yr on grandma and grandpa's small fruit tree orchard. The babies would feather out and begin flying when they were still tiny and hung around until fall.
It took some looking but you could find mom and her hatch all huddled in a line on a pear tree or crab apple tree limb almost any day. It was surprising how their plumage blended in with the bark. You almost had to notice a head turning with you first b4 you'd see anything at all.
The young ones also habituated to us kids fairly easily. At dusk we could mimic their mother and they would gather around us and eat grasshoppers or cut worms we had gathered for the occasion. .
“What’s good for me may not be good for the weak minded.” Captain Gus McCrae- Texas Rangers
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: danny clifton]
#7881098
06/09/23 12:26 PM
06/09/23 12:26 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011 MD
DaveP
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
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Yup, my favorite. Although I still call them sparrow hawks.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: DaveP]
#7881113
06/09/23 12:47 PM
06/09/23 12:47 PM
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Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,694 Nevadafornia
Lazarus
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,694
Nevadafornia
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Yup, my favorite. Although I still call them sparrow hawks. Ditto. Always had one every summer when I was a kid (early '70's). There was a grove of cottonwood trees below our house where they would always nest and without fail spring storms would blow limbs off and expose a nest or two. I would usually get one of the little guys real young and they were easy to raise. They would spend most of the day in the neighbor's spruce tree hunting/chasing sparrows. When I would step out the back door with some bits of fresh meat, I would whistle and they would fly across our neighbor's property to ours and land on my fist. I must have raised a half dozen of them over that time and every one of them behaved the same way. Very attached to me all summer and then in late fall they would just be gone one day. I had several great horned owls too but found them to never get very tame. Seems like once they could fly real well they would just drift away one day (or night) and would never be seen again. I had several red tails and they are great rodent hunters. They eat like a teenage boy though and it was always a struggle for a kid on a bicycle to scrounge up enough fresh meat for them until they got to where they could hunt on their own.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Lazarus]
#7881142
06/09/23 02:25 PM
06/09/23 02:25 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011 MD
DaveP
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
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Ditto. Always had one every summer when I was a kid (early '70's). There was a grove of cottonwood trees below our house where they would always nest and without fail spring storms would blow limbs off and expose a nest or two. I would usually get one of the little guys real young and they were easy to raise. They would spend most of the day in the neighbor's spruce tree hunting/chasing sparrows. When I would step out the back door with some bits of fresh meat, I would whistle and they would fly across our neighbor's property to ours and land on my fist. I must have raised a half dozen of them over that time and every one of them behaved the same way. Very attached to me all summer and then in late fall they would just be gone one day. I had several great horned owls too but found them to never get very tame. Seems like once they could fly real well they would just drift away one day (or night) and would never be seen again. I had several red tails and they are great rodent hunters. They eat like a teenage boy though and it was always a struggle for a kid on a bicycle to scrounge up enough fresh meat for them until they got to where they could hunt on their own.
Great story! You just made me flashback 50+ years, when I read My Side of the Mountain!
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Lazarus]
#7881145
06/09/23 02:31 PM
06/09/23 02:31 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011 MD
DaveP
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
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Ya, I was a Sam Gribley Wanna Be. Closest I got was a few crows, crazy smart birds
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: WhiteCliffs]
#7881151
06/09/23 02:39 PM
06/09/23 02:39 PM
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Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,649 Georgia
warrior
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,649
Georgia
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Dr Chamberlain, UGA turkey expert, related one study they had several hens fitted with telemetry equipment, along with a couple of gray foxes, several coons, and a couple of skunks. He said a pair of nesting great horned owls killed every one of them. I believe it. Had one fly past at close range. Dead silent and I can see them being silent death for anything they set their sights on. Eerie such a large bird can be so quiet.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: DaveP]
#7881152
06/09/23 02:39 PM
06/09/23 02:39 PM
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Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 3,114 Ks
Flint Hill fur
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Jan 2017
Posts: 3,114
Ks
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Yup, my favorite. Although I still call them sparrow hawks. X2
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881189
06/09/23 03:58 PM
06/09/23 03:58 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 21,716 Sandhills Nebraska
Gary Benson
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 21,716
Sandhills Nebraska
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I like to watch ospreys fish. Also saw a golden eagle in Wyoming Wednesday. Big birds
Life ain't supposed to be easy.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Wanna Be]
#7881252
06/09/23 06:16 PM
06/09/23 06:16 PM
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Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 507 Arkansas
WhiteCliffs
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 507
Arkansas
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I too like watching Ospreys fish, that midair shudder to shake the water off after a catch just amazes me. Aerodynamics and gravity shouldn’t allow that, yet they do it with ease all while carrying their catch.
As far as the rest of the hawks, I have no use for them or the great horned owl, there needs to be a season on them. There needs to be unlimited season on them - like back n the day when grand dad shot every chicken hawk he saw. The hawks still lived through that ok
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881322
06/09/23 07:57 PM
06/09/23 07:57 PM
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Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,941 east central WI
Dirty D
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 1,941
east central WI
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We have coopers hawks and red tailed hawks in our woodlot. I've seen a Coopers Hawk go after a fledgling Piletated Woodpecker. I pitied the poor Coopers Hawk once the parents came after him. picture of a Coopers Hawk that would visit our feeder waiting for foolish birds. heres the same Coopers Hawk with a foolish Morning Dove.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881365
06/09/23 09:21 PM
06/09/23 09:21 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,085 SEPA
Lugnut
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,085
SEPA
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I like hearing and seeing all raptors, always have. Some of my favorites include the peregrine falcon, marsh hawks, some of the smaller raptors like sharp-shinned and coopers hawks and of course the kestrel. I love hearing the various owls in the area an identifying by call.
Eh...wot?
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881375
06/09/23 09:34 PM
06/09/23 09:34 PM
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Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 690 SD
Tray
"Wilson Jr."
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"Wilson Jr."
Joined: Feb 2010
Posts: 690
SD
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Owls are my favorite, so many different shapes and sizes. The eyes are always the focal point.
Gulo, your Great Grays are on my bucket list. Such a cool bird.
Last edited by Tray; 06/09/23 09:39 PM.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881423
06/09/23 11:55 PM
06/09/23 11:55 PM
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Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,580 MT
Slick Pan
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 1,580
MT
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881436
06/10/23 01:12 AM
06/10/23 01:12 AM
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Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 1,720 Wisconsin
Scott__aR
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2020
Posts: 1,720
Wisconsin
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I have to say Christine and I were impressed by a Bald Eagle standing on a deer carcass in the median of Hwy 8 just outside of Rhinelander, WI. I'll just say HUGE, watch traffic drive by, interrupting it's dinner!
My favorite raptor I saw was probably 20 years ago, came out of the house to find a Snowy Owl perched on the eave of the barn over looking the snow covered pasture on a crisp early morning at sunrise.
Megapredator ... top of the food chain! Member of WTA Member of MTPCA Member of NTA
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881482
06/10/23 07:10 AM
06/10/23 07:10 AM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,085 SEPA
Lugnut
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 20,085
SEPA
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Ospreys are neat. I like watching them fish while I m fishing.
Before I witnessed it, I always figured they would swoop down and gracefully snag a fish in their talons and soar away with a meal.
Maybe it happens that way sometimes but I have not seen it. What I see is anything but graceful. They will hoover briefly then drop down and smack the water with the sound of someone doing a bad belly flop. They will then struggle to take off and get airborne with wet feathers and their meal if they were successful, which they are not more often than they are.
If they were successful they are usually being harassed by other ospreys, gulls or eagles trying to steal their fish as they struggle to gain altitude.
They earn their meals!
Eh...wot?
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881536
06/10/23 08:53 AM
06/10/23 08:53 AM
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Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 3,189 Pa.
Bigbrownie
trapper
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trapper
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Posts: 3,189
Pa.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881644
06/10/23 12:16 PM
06/10/23 12:16 PM
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Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,358 Firth, Nebraska
jabNE
trapper
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trapper
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 8,358
Firth, Nebraska
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Barred owls one of my favorites here. When they get to chattering in wee hours of the morning it sounds like a couple howler monkeys opening up. They can make some weird eery sounds. Jim
Money cannot buy you happiness, but it can buy you a trapping license and that's pretty close.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881664
06/10/23 12:40 PM
06/10/23 12:40 PM
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Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 11,504 Montana ,Rocky Mtns.
Sharon
"American Honey"
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"American Honey"
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 11,504
Montana ,Rocky Mtns.
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Wonderful shots, Tatiana, and Tray. I have Goshawks here. They swoop low , only a few feet off the ground through the conifers , those long tails and gray colours always get my attention. I always think of the Harrier jets , named after those hawks.
Tray, your Burrowing owls reminded me of fun times in Ocala , FLA, when I rode imported show horses and Appaloosas there. I would enjoy taking them outside the arenas , and all over the neighborhood, riding fence along roads, waving at folks on their ranches , passing by. The wee Burrowing owls were all over . They thrived in that white sandy ground . They would sit on top of fence posts and watch me pass by. I liked when they would do what I call the "stoop curtsey " as I got closer. I haven't seen so many in one area since.
Wonderful shots, everyone.
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Re: Favorite Raptors
[Re: Gulo]
#7881681
06/10/23 01:04 PM
06/10/23 01:04 PM
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Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 29,894 williamsburg ks
danny clifton
"Grumpy Old Man"
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"Grumpy Old Man"
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 29,894
williamsburg ks
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Burrowing owls will sure make you jump setting traps around praire dog towns or catching rattlers in the spring.
Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
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