Adventures in Urban Life

[sarahmichelef]

When I left to go run some errands at about 2, there was a raptor of some kind with a freshly-killed squirrel in his talons in our back yard. I was about 10 feet from him when I noticed him - certainly the closest I've ever been to a bird of prey in the wild. We watched each other for a minute and then I said to him, "Got a snack there? Ok, well, please don't leave it in my yard."

An hour later, I came home to find him in the next-door neighbor's front yard. I jumped out of the car and ran in to get the camera. When I started to approach him to get a shot, he took off, but landed just across the street. Once there, he was willing to let me approach (again, to within about 10 feet) and take a bunch of shots.

Watching him watch me was pretty intense... he's beautiful, and there's just something very wild about a bird of prey with their catch in their talons, staring you down.

Comments

[siriel.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous.

[elliesam.livejournal.com]

That looks like a red-tailed hawk. We have a few of them living around the Cities. He's gorgeous!

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

Oh, awesome.

I saw one of the ones that lives at MIT eating his snack, and got divebombed by another one (the breeze form her wings ruffled my hair she was so close).

[ferriludant.livejournal.com]

Very cool.

[irihs.livejournal.com]

Coolness!

I think we had the same species of bird do the same exact thing in the courtyard by my office, when I was in grad school. Except it was a pigeon, not a squirrel. There were pigeon feathers everywhere, and bloody spot in the grass where the carnage had taken place. The hawk took its sweet time to pick apart that pigeon, too. Someone got footage of it, and I'm disappointed that I never made a copy. It was pretty wild, though perhaps in an unfortunate spot, being very close to the walkway we instructed parents to use when bringing their little kids in for studies.

[tracytris.livejournal.com]

awesome photos!

[elliesam.livejournal.com]

Hey, it's nature first-hand! Good for the kiddies. :) :)

[nomadmwe.livejournal.com]

Wow. That's awesome.

[brewergnome.livejournal.com]

Broadwinged hawk maybe? His tail isn't banded like a red-tail's.

He's GORGEOUS.

[alphasarah.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he doesn't match the red tail pictures I found. But his belly isn't banded like a broad-winged hawk ought to be (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broad-winged_hawk) though he could be a juvenile, I suppose (http://www.pbase.com/airlinerphotos/image/20573983)

[brewergnome.livejournal.com]

You're right...

Though with that much white on him I'd put money on him being a juvenile of something.

If he were jsut a little darker he could almost be a young golden eagle...

My money's still on broadwinged... Where exactly are you living these days? It could almost be a Ferruginous but not on the east coast...

[shylabrat.livejournal.com]

Sweet photos.

[nazrynn.livejournal.com]

Beautiful pictures. :)

I also left a pic of something in my LJ for you, in reply to this.
Hope you like it. ;D

[jennybeast.livejournal.com]

Wow...that's gorgeous. I'm a little freaked out, though,'cause I woke up this morning with a nightmare of getting too close to raptors and being attacked. wierd