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Yesterday morning there was a great commotion in the sky. Seagulls and crows were diving and cawing, screaming. So I went out to see what it was. I thought they were fighting each other. I watched for about 15 minutes and then I realized holy shit there's a fucking Bald Eagle in that tree.

Discuss. . .

i have watched a turkey vulture fighting with an eagle over a lake...I think vulture was too close to the eagle's nest

seemslikeadream » Sun Jul 31, 2016 4:03 pm wrote:i have watched a turkey vulture fighting with an eagle over a lake...I think vulture was too close to the eagle's nest

In 1981 I was with 3 friends at Hancock Lake in the Marble Mountain Wilderness.

I could not find a picture that could get to post but Hancock lake is 20 to 25 acres.

We spread out around the lake to fish.

Individually, we all had about the same experience and when we randomly wandered back to camp, "Did you see that?"

Rather hear and then see was what occurred.

Near dusk, an osprey had a trout from the lake but that was not what had attracted our attention.

A peregrine falcon decided it wanted the fish and attacked the osprey and they had a battle royal until the falcon won the trout.

We all heard the attack first and watched repeated attacks.

The falcon flew high about the osprey and then body slammed the osprey from above.

Several times the osprey dropped but then quickly recovered the fish but the falcon would again fly above and repeat the dive and body slam.

This happened several times until the falcon got the fish and left.

The osprey then dove the lake until getting another fish.

Seven or eight years ago one of the guys retired from the US Forest Service after nearly 40 years on the same Ranger District.

I attended his going away party and brought a gift from the epic trip over 25 years in the past.

We had walked across the Marbles mostly cross country so we could hit many fine lakes with no trail access (Hancock Lake did and does have trail access).

Our wives had dropped us off and then picked us up and we had a grand party.

The gift was we had kept a joint journal of the trip and at our celebration made up a series of "Best of" awards all recored in the notebook,

I gave Kirk the notebook.

82_28 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 3:48 pm wrote:Yesterday morning there was a great commotion in the sky. Seagulls and crows were diving and cawing, screaming. So I went out to see what it was. I thought they were fighting each other. I watched for about 15 minutes and then I realized holy shit there's a fucking Bald Eagle in that tree.

Discuss. . .

If you have ever been to southeast Alaska, you will know bald eagles are common.

The first time I was in Sitka (where there are not many places to drive), the first evening an old friend who lived and worked there for the US Forest Service (I was there for consulting work) drove me to the landfill.

At the landfill, there were lots of bald eagles.

If you know landfills near the ocean, there are usually lots of seagulls. In Sitka, the bald eagles harassed the seagulls.

Several years later (1994), I had spent several weeks on a floating camp off the mainland about mid way between Juneau and Ketchikan. There was no phone, internet television, or newspapers; the only outside contact was folks that came or went or had been to Petersburg for R&R or to work in an office we had set up at a Petersburg motel. One caught the mail plane at the floating camp and flew into Juneau to transfer to Alaska Air to fly to Seattle.

Alaska Air stopped at Ketchikan and I then had a seat mate and we made small talk. He worked for the Ketchikan sanitary district and was on his way to Seattle for a new garbage truck. He and the new truck would then boat back to Ketchikan and he was jazzed about his trip. I told him about how my friend had shown me the bald eagles in Sitka and he assured me that the Ketchikan landfill had far more bald eagles than the Sitka landfill and was popular with the tourists.

When we got to SeaTac and walked off the airplane, the airport was dead silent and people were staring at the TV monitors. There was a white Bronco on a freeway. I asked a random stranger who told me that the Bronco contained OJ Simpson.

I went to a bar to get a drink and continued to watch OJ while I waited for my next flight. A young woman sat next to me and we chatted. I had met the same young woman at the same bar that Spring. I was with an employee and we were on our way north to set up operations for that field season and had a four hour stopover. The too we had visited and we ordered and ate lunch together. After lunch she told us she had a room near the airport and said she would give us a group rate. We did not accept her offer. I am glad to have always been so naïve. This time we just drank and watched OJ with nothing else suggested.

Sometime past midlife I came to the conclusion that the wild turkey would be a more appropriate national bird.

Oh they're very common in Western Washington as well. Many consider them a nuisance in fact. Anyway I was amazed at the alliance of the crows and seagulls. I thought they were fighting each other. But they were in unison.

82_28 » Sun Jul 31, 2016 5:37 pm wrote:Oh they're very common in Western Washington as well. Many consider them a nuisance in fact. Anyway I was amazed at the alliance of the crows and seagulls. I thought they were fighting each other. But they were in unison.

Crows are smarter and stronger than seagulls.

Are your crows ravens or actual crows? Ravens are much bigger.

Are your crows ravens or actual crows? Ravens are much bigger.

Funny you should post that here today; just earlier, I was going by a nearby park I go by every day (and where there are usually a bunch of crows gathered at the perimeter on the grass or in the trees), and saw a couple of what appeared to be gigantic crows—never seen any so huge in that park—and wondered to myself if they were simply unusually well-fed crows or, in fact, ravens. I'd say they were close to double the size of your average crow.

identity » Sun Jul 31, 2016 6:41 pm wrote:

Are your crows ravens or actual crows? Ravens are much bigger.

Funny you should post that here today; just earlier, I was going by a nearby park I go by every day (and where there are usually a bunch of crows gathered at the perimeter on the grass or in the trees), and saw a couple of what appeared to be gigantic crows—never seen any so huge in that park—and wondered to myself if they were simply unusually well-fed crows or, in fact, ravens. I'd say they were close to double the size of your average crow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven

A raven is one of several larger-bodied members of the genus Corvus. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus, but share similar characteristics and appearances that generally separate them from other crows.[citation needed] The largest raven species are the common raven and the thick-billed raven.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_raven

The common raven (Corvus corax), also known as the northern raven, is a large all-black passerine bird. Found across the Northern Hemisphere, it is the most widely distributed of all corvids. There are at least eight subspecies with little variation in appearance, although recent research has demonstrated significant genetic differences among populations from various regions. It is one of the two largest corvids, alongside the thick-billed raven, and is possibly the heaviest passerine bird; at maturity, the common raven averages 63 centimetres (25 inches) in length and 1.2 kilograms (2.6 pounds) in mass. Common ravens can live up to 21 years in the wild,[2] a lifespan exceeded among passerines by only a few Australasian species such as the satin bowerbird[3] and probably the lyrebirds. Young birds may travel in flocks but later mate for life, with each mated pair defending a territory.

Common ravens have coexisted with humans for thousands of years and in some areas have been so numerous that people have regarded them as pests. Part of their success as a species is due to their omnivorous diet; they are extremely versatile and opportunistic in finding sources of nutrition, feeding on carrion, insects, cereal grains, berries, fruit, small animals, and food waste.

Some notable feats of problem-solving provide evidence that the common raven is unusually intelligent. Over the centuries, it has been the subject of mythology, folklore, art, and literature. In many cultures, including the indigenous cultures of Scandinavia, ancient Ireland and Wales, Bhutan, the northwest coast of North America, and Siberia and northeast Asia, the common raven has been revered as a spiritual figure or god.[4]

I got a kick out of what our Founding Father, that old libertine Benjamin Franklin, wrote about the choice of the Bald Eagle as America's beastly representative. (Was he describing what he saw reflected in his mirror? )

“For my own part I wish the Bald Eagle had not been chosen the Representative of our Country. He is a Bird of bad moral Character. He does not get his Living honestly. You may have seen him perched on some dead Tree near the River, where, too lazy to fish for himself, he watches the Labour of the Fishing Hawk; and when that diligent Bird has at length taken a Fish, and is bearing it to his Nest for the Support of his Mate and young Ones, the Bald Eagle pursues him and takes it from him.

With all this injustice, he is never in good case but like those among men who live by sharping & robbing he is generally poor and often very lousy. Besides he is a rank coward: The little King Bird not bigger than a Sparrow attacks him boldly and drives him out of the district. He is therefore by no means a proper emblem for the brave and honest Cincinnati of America who have driven all the King birds from our country…

“I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America… He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on.”

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-cult ... 14/?no-ist

The fish hawk is an alternative name for the osprey that I mentioned up thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey

"The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) — also called fish eagle, sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk — is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts."

I probably got the idea of the American Wild Turkey from Ben Franklin, my favorite Founding Father.

Ben Franklin would be a good RI topic. He was a freemason and a member of the Hellfire Club in England. I have a Hellfire Club published limited printing of Crowley's The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (2005) and have wondered of the true nature of today's Hellfire Club and the Hellfire Club circa time of Benjamin Franklin.

We get passed on such a romantic and fanciful tradition of our past.

PufPuf93 » Mon Aug 01, 2016 12:30 pm wrote:The fish hawk is an alternative name for the osprey that I mentioned up thread.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osprey

"The osprey (Pandion haliaetus) — also called fish eagle, sea hawk, river hawk, and fish hawk — is a diurnal, fish-eating bird of prey with a cosmopolitan range. It is a large raptor, reaching more than 60 cm (24 in) in length and 180 cm (71 in) across the wings. It is brown on the upperparts and predominantly greyish on the head and underparts."

I probably got the idea of the American Wild Turkey from Ben Franklin, my favorite Founding Father.

Ben Franklin would be a good RI topic. He was a freemason and a member of the Hellfire Club in England. I have a Hellfire Club published limited printing of Crowley's The Book of the Goetia of Solomon the King (2005) and have wondered of the true nature of today's Hellfire Club and the Hellfire Club circa time of Benjamin Franklin.

We get passed on such a romantic and fanciful tradition of our past.

I wrote a niche regional history and discovered that Benjamin Franklin was the most reviled man in the colonies as one of its richest at a time when there was mass homelessness and hunger on the streets in 1776 and regular economic depressions that hit the populace fast and hard, not really recovering in between.

I went to a bird show at the zoo here a number of years ago and they had owls and falcons and stuff that would fly back and forth between the handlers. They also had a bald eagle but it was the only bird that had to fly on a wire it was attached to somehow. I said to my friend who I was with, "isn't it funny the official bird of freedom in America is the only unfree bird here?" I thought it ironic for obvious reasons.

A recent RI synchronicity for me.

On July 30 in the Images Only thread I posted two other images of the this image of a woman with a seagull.





Opatija, Croatia and Maiden with the seagull – Learn the story behind the girl

http://www.visitopatija.net/en/attracti ... en-seagull

Just now I was thinking about posting in the "NATO's Humanitarian Bombing of Yugoslavia" thread but thought I had already made the post I would write and I had in November 2015:

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=39357&p=580286&hilit=Dubrovnik#p580286

The post is about the splendid time spent on the Croatian coast from Dubrovnik to Opatija (then Yugoslavia) in 1981. I mention the maiden with the seagull. I has just realized thanks to the internet how world influential my friend who invited me to Belgrade and we then traveled had become. I have not seen or spoken to her since the mid-1990s when I had work in Toronto where she was then and is now a professor at the University of Toronto. I also noticed yesterday that Iamwhoiam had not posted and that is because we had some give and take in the Global Warming thread not finished. Circa 1990 I worked as a consultant for Toronto Metro to estimate the amount and nature of wood waste passing through nine Toronto Metro transfer stations and / or directly into the two Toronto Metro landfills and searched for Monica in the process.

So to maybe explain my ramble and the synchronicity is seagull - Yugoslavia - Toronto, you all get my confused mind that often lives in the past.

Beautiful place and nice story about the Maiden and the seagull that is the symbol of Opatija, Croatia.

Over the last several months, not quite despairing at my situation with regard to work, I've taken to walking the local woods and waterways with Nettles (my girlfriend) stalking the lesser spotted woodpecker no less. It's a breathtaking sight. That vivid black, white and red plumage is akin (in excitement) to spotting the monestial turqoise and ultra marine blue flash of a kingfisher slowing down enough to be visible as they streak along the canals and the river. The woodpeckers are so beautiful yet elusive, particular about where they hang out though once you cotton on to their sounds, they're everywhere! As long as there are trees. With a pair of binoculars handy you can see them clearly all the way up in the canopy.

Also, we've been stopping by the river on our way back from the woods to watch cormorants and herons fishing in their different ways. The cormorants are all joie de vivre, flying gleefully, diving for pearls, shaking the water out lustily and sunning themselves after feeding, their dark wings spread wide like an omen. There's one Heron which has taken to a spot near the weir in a small side channel cut through the rock to power an old water wheel (present but rusted fast.) One after another eels disappear messily. For about the time it took Saddam to launch WMD we wait and watch while intermittently the Heron lurch suddenly from an almost bookish poise to become sharp-eyed guided missiles with a pair of deadly pincers at the business end, scooping up eels and perch. With the eels it catches them however it can across the body and then tosses them into the air to get a better purchase nearer to the head. Then it squeezes them, shaking fiercely every now and then. Often, blood escapes from the mouth of the poor little eel as it frantically sheds slime like an H R Giger creation. So much so the heron must frequently dip it's beak in the water and wash the slime away to maintain a purchase. The eel keeps slipping toward the end of Herons beak as the heron applies pressure, only to be tossed into the air over again and re-caught almost always before being swallowed and bulging down the gullet. A few escape but the cormorants wait just downstream to mop them up. Watching those eels flex and twist, sometimes wrapping their body several times around the herons beak, you can't help but feel how much they want to live! Herons definitely find it easier to eat perch, spikes and all, tossing them up in the air only to swallow them head first. A few weeks ago we saw one heron repeatedly trying to swallow an eel it had killed which was longer than it's own body, to no avail. Each time the dead fish slipped from the herons grasp almost accusingly.

Then there's the buzzards! Majestic, soaring, territorial. And the kestrels we saw only a few feet above us at the summit of Helsby hill as if pinned to the sky, almost motionless and with barely a ruffle of feather as they ride the winds up there. Oh and also there's the sheer joy of cycling along the bike path on a perfectly straight four mile stretch of river, inside a fast tailwind, moving at the same speed as a flock of swallows as they hang in the air yards away, doing things the Red Arrows can only dream about.

Joy!