I Saw A Live Kill !!
Driving to church today to prep for an event tomorrow. Turned a corner in our neighborhood and witnessed a small bird of prey chasing (and catching) a songbird. Incredible! The ancient bestial struggle between life and death playing out right here in the suburbs.
I don't think it was a hawk...if it was then it was a juvenile. Maybe a merlin.... just not sure. Didn't stick around to see if it watch it eat the bird~
Anybody else here ever see live "National Geographic" style predatory animal kills in-person?
I don't think it was a hawk...if it was then it was a juvenile. Maybe a merlin.... just not sure. Didn't stick around to see if it watch it eat the bird~
Anybody else here ever see live "National Geographic" style predatory animal kills in-person?
Comments
I've actually seen that happen a couple times with birds. I haven't seen any land animals go at it though.
Originally posted by drewprops
Anybody else here ever see live "National Geographic" style predatory animal kills in-person?
<glances at picture of Ted Nugent> Yes, I've seen stuff like that. Through the scope on my rifle. I even got to participate in the action.
Last fall some friends and I were out driving the acres, and came upon a mountain lion fighting a feral hog. Really nasty. Big pussy thrashes big pig. Film at eleven.
It's difficult to see this, but, at the same time, difficult to tear your eyes away from this spectacle of the harsh laws of nature in action.
But nothing beats seeing a Northern Pike take down a baby duck. Have seen that twice while fishing and it is like a miniture Jaws seen.
Anyways I do recall throwing a frog really high up (~2 stories), watch it fall onto cement, and not move anymore. Then there was that time I caught a fish and I couldn't get it off the treble hook, so I slammed it against a tree.
It always starts the same way-I hear the click, click click of the beetle knocking into the light bulb, and the spider just hangs in a corner by the ceiling going, "Come on, mutha****er!
The second one of those fake ladybugs even touches one of the web strands it's DONE! The spider just viciously explodes across the web. The beetle is stuck, bitten and wrapped in under 30 seconds.
After the feast, the spider always carefully repairs it's home-It's a better housekeeper than I am!
I look forward to the eradication of many unsuspecting flies and mosquitoes this summer.
Jeff
A lizard was sunbathing on my window screen, when a bird dive-bombed onto it with his beak. He tore a hole in the screen.
A lizard was on my south brick wall sunning itself, doing those little pushups they do. A roadrunner (yes, like in the cartoons
I watched a lizard snatch up a bug and crunch him down. Yuck. That crunching sound was awful.
One summer, a huge owl would come sit in the grass every afternoon from 4:30-6:30 in my dad's backyard. It would sit there panting from the heat with its wings spread a bit. Then the automatic sprinklers would come on and the owl was in heaven. After his refreshing bath and rest, he would then fly after smaller birds. I have to say that he looked magnificent and huge as he flew, with his wings fully spread. One time, as he sat there, several smaller birds would dive-bomb his head - glancing blows. I saw him sitting out there with something in his mouth one evening, but didn't see him make the catch.
In the spring, the quail parents hatch out a brood of about 12 baby quail - teensy little fluffballs the size of walnuts. They all walk (they don't hop) together through the grass, babies struggling because they are so tiny that the grass is tough to negotiate for them on their small twig-like legs. Little by little, the brood gets smaller - the babies preyed on by everything imaginable - owls, crows, coyotes. A coyote used to lie in the shade in my dad's backyard.
I almost stepped on a wild rabbit! It blended right into the hillside. Very pretty animal. It was very still but the ears caught my attention. Anyway, I started backing down to not startle it. I don't know where this sucker was all this time, apparently also close by, I didn't see him. A freakin coyote seemingly appears out of nowhere and ran right at the rabbit. The bunny took two hops but it wasn't fast enough! The coyote snatched him by the neck! This took place no more than fifteen feet in front of me. I could actually hear the bunny screaming in the coyote's jaws for just a bit... Yeah, it sounded like sreaming... Wow, that was something...
I've seen a lion bring down a wildebeest in the Mara and eat it in the tall grass, arse first. That was cool.
I've had to duck when the vehicle I was in disturbed a pride of lions eating their kill at head height when my head was poking out the the top of a Land Cruiser. I remember the cat nearest us bearing its teeth and squatting, preparing to spring. That was cool, too.
Aaaand then there was the time the lion brought down a big piece of meat in the night right infront the tent my brother was sleeping in and someone had to run to the 4X4 to scare it off.
That, also, was cool.
There was a Barred Owl that sat on the same branch in back of my house once or twice a week for about a year. We have a big window in the back that looks out to the forest, and there is a bird feeder attached to our deck. The owl sat on the tree just across from our deck, waiting for mice to run to the seeds that the birds drop. I'm sure he was well-fed, but I only saw him actually catch a mouse once. Swooped down, came back up with a little mouse in his mouth, then swallowed it whole.
A friend of mine is a falconer, and he brought one of his birds (a Peregrine/Gyrfalcon hybrid) out to a field for "practice." He let the falcon go, and it circled around for a while before he released a pheasant. It really didn't stand a chance - the falcon dove from way up in the sky, smacked into the pheasant, and then chased it to the ground where he ripped it to pieces and started eating it. Yum.
When I was really little, I came to a snake eating a frog. Rather, it was a snake TRYING to eat a really big bullfrog. The frog was only about halfway in the snake's mouth, and his front legs were digging at the ground trying to break free. The snake was holding on as hard as he could, but it was obvious that the snake was far too small to eat the frog. They were locked in a stalemate for a few minutes before the snake finally realized that he wasn't going to get a meal out of the frog, and let go.
One time I was sitting in the basement with my cat. I was either on my computer or watching TV, something like that, when I heard this squeaking and my cat started darting around like mad. I looked down and saw her chasing a mouse around in circles. After a few seconds she pinned it down with her front paws (no front claws, poor kitty) and bit into it, making a pretty loud crunching sound. Then she ate it right there. Crunch crunch crunch. What's amazing is that she was 16 years old at the time - she died only about six months later. Quite a feat for a declawed, timid, senior cat!
These are fun to read! If I come up with any more I will post them. Keep 'em coming (I especially liked yours Hassan).
ok. i made up the squirrel...
Originally posted by Carol A
One summer, a huge owl would come sit in the grass every afternoon from 4:30-6:30 in my dad's backyard...
Owls of any kind are one of my absolute favorite animals. Those eyes-so beautiful! I've been hearing one in our neighborhood lately, I'm dying to see it!
J
In the television show "Futurama" Matt Groening and his writers decided to make owls the "rats" of the future....an uber-deep inside joke that I never got. BUT if you watch the show you'll notice the owls.
It can be pretty cool. One of the guys in my class was able to almost fully reconstruct a mouse skeleton.
Jeff