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Sanity -> Birds Of Prey (4/11/2010 8:54:01 PM)
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Here's a place to post your raptor questions or your news stories or your personal stories, or other links and observations!
Raptors interest me primarily because many scientists who are in a position to know tell us that birds are direct descendants from dinosaurs. Think of that - birds are quite possibly dinosaurs among us - and as I watch raptors in action, deep down inside of me I know that they are dinosaurs.
In downtown Boise there are peregrine falcons which raise broods of their young on certain building ledges very near where I work, and I get to watch them fairly closely. And almost every day this time of year the adults are mating, and they dive and scream at anyone who goes out onto the high-rise roofs (myself included) to let us know who is boss, and they get amazingly close. These birds are brave beyond words, and they're very large up close, especially the females. And when they're coming at you and you know that their talons and their beaks are razor sharp, they tend to earn your respect!
Every summer a few of the chicks glide to the ground while learning to fly and sometimes it falls on me to watch over the grounded chicks while waiting on Fish & Game officers to come down and rescue them and return them to their nests. Occasionally I also get to help tag the chicks as well, and I've got some amazing pictures I will share later on in the thread.
Also, living in Idaho I am surrounded by wild places, many of which are near where I live and I love to go to fishing or hiking and watching all the different raptors in their native habitat. Just last Saturday for example I went hiking in Hells Canyon, which is a wild and scenic area bordering Idaho and Oregon - the deepest canyon in North America, and home to all kinds of wildlife. I saw two huge eagles soaring high above the canyon rim there, and I also saw three turkey vultures right beside the road feasting on roadkill deer.
More on all that later, pictures included (I promise). I didn't take photos of the eagles because my Canon camera doesn't zoom far and experience tells me that when I shoot photos of soaring raptors all I see in the picture is their silhouette against the bright sky, and I've got tons of images like that. But I did get a few good shots of the Turkey Vultures, though from a slight distance. (I didn't want to stop the car too close to them, for fear of disturbing them). I thought they were turkey vultures, at least, but now I'm almost wondering if they weren't condors.
Anyway, here's an interesting news story about a pair of eagles to start this thread off with a bang!
quote:
Alaska eagle survives plunge after mating dance
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – An acrobatic display of passion proved too much for a pair of eagles engaged in a mating dance over Alaska's Prince William Sound.
The female bird is recovering from an injured wing and other injuries sustained when the couple slammed beak-first into a hard snowbank in what her rescuers believe was an aerial courting ritual gone awry. The male eagle died in the impact, which left the birds buried upside down at least two feet in the snow in the town of Valdez.
It's mating season for eagles, who perform an elaborate ritual where they clasp talons and spiral toward the ground. This pair probably got caught up in the throes of the moment, said Bob Benda, a bird rescuer and biology professor at Prince William Sound Community College who was among those responding to the Easter Sunday crash.
"They just lose track of what they're doing and don't know how close they are to the ground," he said. "It's raging hormones or something."
Full article here
Hey - I can relate... [8D]
The wounded female - poor girl!
[image]local://upfiles/292349/1F4D85B8747448EF9F3DF2E0729E393A.jpg[/image]
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