We've also seen golden eagles and osprey along with a whole contingent of hawks and falcons. Pretty rich wild life in Wisconsin, even in the metro areas.
We have a lot of bald Eagles around here. Last weekend coming back from deer hunting I saw 6 of them on the ice of the Minnesota river. 2 adults and 4 immature(dark head) young.
Back when I still had my streetbike, I was coming home one night on a long dark country road. I see a very large black shadow emerge from my right directly in front of me and swoop down across the street so close it nearly hit me in the helmet. I literally almost crapped my pants. That thing was HUGE! After evasive maneuvers I realized it wasn't the grim reaper, it was just a big owl trying to eat. Saw another in some apartments on a fence one time. It was so big I thought it was fake till it looked at me and then flew off. It had that dramatic look like this... And then it was gone. I think our owls are on growth hormones.
I understand that they have sharp talons and pointy beaks. But damn dude, you wear a helmet and roost deflector to hold an owl? Pussy.
One Summer evening, just after dusk walking in my back yard I had a *giant* owl fly about 3ft over head from behind me.... :wow: Sonofabitch! It scared the poop out of me, totally silent, and totally cool!! :up:
Owls are fucking creepy. True story - I had an episode at the house with a bunch of flying squirrels (yeah) that put me in a hateful mood. I'm standing in the backyard smoking watching these rat bastards when the SO comes out. I said, "I'm going to get me a couple of those owls to put in the yard to run off the squirrels..." She says calmly, "Why don't you go to Lowes and get those big plastic ones to put out there?" I looked at her like she was retarded and said "what the fuck, you think i'm going to the OWL STORE to buy a couple of trained attack birds?" The couch wasn't that bad..
We just moved to the west side of Detroit and I have NEVER seem so many frickin' squirrels as they have around here in such an urban area. They are everywhere. I'm thinkin' Dits might wanna send a couple of those owls up here to thin out the squirrel population a little and give the song birds a fighting chance. I was gonna set up the bird feeders to help them out this winter but not until I squirrel prove the feeders. Cheers, D
my wife recently came back from a business trip to CA. seems these ritzy places are hirin' a falconer to keep the seagulls away...you know, squackin' an' shittin' on everything. it's starts out with the falconer lettin' loose a peregrine, the gulls know they're in the wrong neighborhood. if that doesn't do it, they let loose the eurasian eagle owl. scares the bejeezus out of the gulls. just the sight of this owl sends 'em packin'. 6' wingspan, 10lbs, known to attack deer, argued to be the largest owl tho' slightly smaller on average than the largest species. http://www.google.com/images?q=eura...isch:1&ei=BjAKTYnJK4T58Aa77s2gAQ&start=0&sa=N http://pt.treknature.com/gallery/Europe/Netherlands/photo73990.htm raptors rule and as this one goes, well, it's also known for takin' out eagles. :wow: wife said the coloring/markings were absolutely beautiful...pictures don't do it justice. and the eyes...yeah, orange. one of the pics on google looks like billy connelly's first scene in boondock saints when he looks up while standin' in that cage. scary.
Squirrel proof bird feeders may be an interesting topic around here. Ever see the youtube video of the guy who invented a squirrel catapult feeder? Good stuff.
I went duck hunting last weekend in Greenwood, MS and we had a bald eagle come dive bomb our decoys - pretty effin' cool. Also, our office is in our lifestyle center in Montgomery, AL. We had a bald eagle that lives by a lake nearby come land on one of the lamp posts on the main street drag - stopped traffic for 5 minutes - that was pretty cool. We've been seeing more and more here in Bama and that's great - love that bird and oh yeah, War Eagle !!
That makes it even worse! You need a helmet to handle a grouse? (Your damn picture's too small. You suck at the interwebs.)
We didn't have any of the cool big ones around my house. Mostly barred owls that would give the creepy Scooby Doo hoots in the middle of the night. I would hear them all the time, but I think I only ever saw one. We did have a red tail hawk nesting in our yard last year. That was cool! Noisy as hell though.
