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Favorite Raptors #7880995
06/09/23 09:15 AM
06/09/23 09:15 AM
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,696
Idaho, Lemhi County
G
Gulo Offline OP
"On The Other Hand"
Gulo  Offline OP
"On The Other Hand"
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Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,696
Idaho, Lemhi County
Here's a couple of my favorite-looking raptors. The bald eagle is basically a scavenger, and really doesn't do much killing. The great gray owl, despite it's large size, lives mainly on small mammals (rabbits, voles and gophers).

[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]
[Linked Image]


Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7880999
06/09/23 09:23 AM
06/09/23 09:23 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 29,879
williamsburg ks
D
danny clifton Offline
"Grumpy Old Man"
danny clifton  Offline
"Grumpy Old Man"
D

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 29,879
williamsburg ks
I like seeing Kestrels


Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881021
06/09/23 09:54 AM
06/09/23 09:54 AM
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,696
Idaho, Lemhi County
G
Gulo Offline OP
"On The Other Hand"
Gulo  Offline OP
"On The Other Hand"
G

Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 2,696
Idaho, Lemhi County
I agree Danny. What a beautiful plumage on them. Sorry I don't have a better picture. This one was nesting in one of my boreal owl boxes.

[Linked Image]


Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881048
06/09/23 10:56 AM
06/09/23 10:56 AM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 4,645
49th State
M
mad_mike Offline
trapper
mad_mike  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 4,645
49th State
Hawks have always fascinated me. The Alaska red-tailed hawk is the one I see most commonly and is my favorite. A close second is the Northern pygmy owl, but have only seen them a handful of times over the years. Mostly when deer hunting in the dense old growth.

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881056
06/09/23 11:04 AM
06/09/23 11:04 AM
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 34,900
Central, SD
Law Dog Offline
trapper
Law Dog  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 34,900
Central, SD
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
Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881065
06/09/23 11:14 AM
06/09/23 11:14 AM
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 11,494
Montana ,Rocky Mtns.
Sharon Offline
"American Honey"
Sharon  Offline
"American Honey"

Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 11,494
Montana ,Rocky Mtns.
Love to hear owls. Great Grays are on my list to enjoy hearing some quiet night.

Nice shots, Jack.

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881067
06/09/23 11:21 AM
06/09/23 11:21 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 7,593
SW Pa
B
Bob Jameson Offline
trapper
Bob Jameson  Offline
trapper
B

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 7,593
SW Pa
Kansas was loaded with Kestrels. I would see dozens of them on the utility poles and wires as I traveled daily trapline checks. They also had loads of barred and great horned owls. The ranchers didn't like the red tails too much I learned. Barred owls are great hunters. Particularly those I have had the opportunity to observe when I was undetected at dusk each day.

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881086
06/09/23 11:51 AM
06/09/23 11:51 AM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,610
Georgia
warrior Offline
trapper
warrior  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,610
Georgia
Sparrow hawk aka kestrel
Mississippi kite


[Linked Image]
Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881089
06/09/23 12:01 PM
06/09/23 12:01 PM
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,337
The Hill Country of Texas
Leftlane Offline
"HOSS"
Leftlane  Offline
"HOSS"

Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 20,337
The Hill Country of Texas
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


Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: danny clifton] #7881098
06/09/23 12:26 PM
06/09/23 12:26 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
D
DaveP Offline
trapper
DaveP  Offline
trapper
D

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
Originally Posted by danny clifton
I like seeing Kestrels



Yup, my favorite.
Although I still call them sparrow hawks.

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: DaveP] #7881113
06/09/23 12:47 PM
06/09/23 12:47 PM
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,694
Nevadafornia
L
Lazarus Offline
trapper
Lazarus  Offline
trapper
L

Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,694
Nevadafornia
Originally Posted by DaveP
Originally Posted by danny clifton
I like seeing Kestrels



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.

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881130
06/09/23 02:00 PM
06/09/23 02:00 PM
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,004
Ohio
OhioBoy Offline
trapper
OhioBoy  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,004
Ohio
One of the coolest things I've seen outdoors was when I was a kid on deer or coyote drive and I was on post in the woods. It had snowed and it was one of those wet heavy snows where there was three inches of snow on the tree branches too. So I was standing still with my back to a tree just standing there waiting on the drivers to come by and this, it must have been a great horned owl, come swooping down out of a nearby tree and got low and swooped up a little and proceeded to fly through that thick woods with a huge wings span and never hit a tiny branch or made a sound other than the swooshing of those great big wings that just seemed to fold in at just the right time to fit through a tight spot... and then here came the pushers.

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881136
06/09/23 02:11 PM
06/09/23 02:11 PM
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 506
Arkansas
W
WhiteCliffs Offline
trapper
WhiteCliffs  Offline
trapper
W

Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 506
Arkansas
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

Barn owl nest in my deer stand

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: WhiteCliffs] #7881138
06/09/23 02:15 PM
06/09/23 02:15 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,610
Georgia
warrior Offline
trapper
warrior  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,610
Georgia
Originally Posted by WhiteCliffs
[Linked Image]

[Linked Image]

Barn owl nest in my deer stand


You really can't appreciate a barn owl until you've held one. They are actually very petite framed birds under those feathers and the feathers are the most metallic gold I've ever seen on a bird. The bill looks for all the world like fine ivory.

Stunning is putting it mildly.


[Linked Image]
Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Lazarus] #7881142
06/09/23 02:25 PM
06/09/23 02:25 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
D
DaveP Offline
trapper
DaveP  Offline
trapper
D

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
Originally Posted by Lazarus


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!

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881144
06/09/23 02:30 PM
06/09/23 02:30 PM
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,694
Nevadafornia
L
Lazarus Offline
trapper
Lazarus  Offline
trapper
L

Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 3,694
Nevadafornia
Ya, I was a Sam Gribley Wanna Be.

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Lazarus] #7881145
06/09/23 02:31 PM
06/09/23 02:31 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
D
DaveP Offline
trapper
DaveP  Offline
trapper
D

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 5,011
MD
Originally Posted by Lazarus
Ya, I was a Sam Gribley Wanna Be.



Closest I got was a few crows, crazy smart birds

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881148
06/09/23 02:35 PM
06/09/23 02:35 PM
Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 506
Arkansas
W
WhiteCliffs Offline
trapper
WhiteCliffs  Offline
trapper
W

Joined: Feb 2022
Posts: 506
Arkansas
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.

Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: Gulo] #7881150
06/09/23 02:38 PM
06/09/23 02:38 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,761
S.W.Oregon
newhouse114 Offline
trapper
newhouse114  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,761
S.W.Oregon
Great greys are neat but nothing beats a mature goshawk!!!


Life Member NTA & FTA
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain

http://alaskastoneanivory.com/index
Re: Favorite Raptors [Re: WhiteCliffs] #7881151
06/09/23 02:39 PM
06/09/23 02:39 PM
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,610
Georgia
warrior Offline
trapper
warrior  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 25,610
Georgia
Originally Posted by WhiteCliffs
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.


[Linked Image]
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