Sad day for bird of prey lovers... :(

OscarWilde

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First off: A couple of these are a bit GRAPHIC.. nothing to serious, but a tad bit of blood so for those of you who are squeamish...

















What happened: I was sitting in my living room and watching tv and out of the blue I heard the most ridiculously loud noise right against my ear. I turned to look out the window (half expecting it to be cracked or broken) and outside on the porch were these two birds... both completely dead :(
It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out what happened: little bird tries to flee from the hawk and flies right at my window and kills them both...

Basically the little bird did a kamikaze to save his friends and family :lol: Which is funny... because ever since this happened more and more little birds have been flying around my neighborhood; because this hawk used to be a regular in my neighborhood!

Anyway: the pictures (you've had plenty of opportunity to not scroll down now!)










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Sorry for images... wasn't really in the mood for any "creative" shooting :p I just fired off a few shots on auto :) Rarely get to see a hawk this close up though! (which is the only reason I took the pictures really :p)
 
Too bad about the birds.

It's not uncommon to see either the sharp shinned or coopers hawk ( my guess is this is a sharp shinned, but it's hard to tell the difference in them from what you can see of this hawk in the photos) hanging out where there is a bird feeder and going after the little birds. My wife and I were standing in front of our large front room window a couple of weeks ago when bang, a little sparrow smacked into the window. Only a second later the coopers hawk that hangs around flared his wings and just avoided hitting the window and landed about 25 feet away. Our outside cat heard the bang, which is a dinner bell for him and came up the steps... but the Coopers hopped over and grabbed the sparrow just before the cat got there. After that happened I have heard several stories about the hawks chasing birds into windows.
 
You need to stop using Windex on your windows, bro.

 
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Yeah its sad :( Couldn't believe it when it happened. Just called the humane society and they came and took both away...

Seems funny really, because we (as a society) always think of hawks and such as much more intelligent than other birds, yet they are just as susceptible to the advanced technology that is windows :lol: Seems humans are the only ones who really seem to get that you can't go right through them... :p

@ tyler: Yeah; I must have some seriously clean windows! :lol:
 
I'll have to check when I get home from work in the morning with my brother in law to see if he will let me post the pictures of my father in law's car. They were driving down the highway and there was a dead squirrel in the road, just as they came upon it a hawk swooped down on the squirrel... when he got to the bro's place he had both the squirrel and hawk imbedded in the grill of his Buick.

Ouch !!
 
I'll have to check when I get home from work in the morning with my brother in law to see if he will let me post the pictures of my father in law's car. They were driving down the highway and there was a dead squirrel in the road, just as they came upon it a hawk swooped down on the squirrel... when he got to the bro's place he had both the squirrel and hawk imbedded in the grill of his Buick.

Ouch !!

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Thats craaazy!
 
Actually the reason birds fly into windows so often is because they see the reflection of the trees outside and don't know it's a reflection. They see a tree and go full speed hoping to land on a branch but end up either dead or dazed. Kinda sad. Some people have attempted to put some sort of markers or something on windows to differentiate windows from a real tree
 
Actually the reason birds fly into windows so often is because they see the reflection of the trees outside and don't know it's a reflection. They see a tree and go full speed hoping to land on a branch but end up either dead or dazed. Kinda sad. Some people have attempted to put some sort of markers or something on windows to differentiate windows from a real tree

Yeppers, exactly right...bright weather outside..lower light level inside...windows become "mirrors". Birds can and do fly into windows. Often,but not always, with deadly results. We had excellent luck with putting some reflective mylar decals or "stickers" on some windows where this had been a problem...it stopped the problem 100%.
 
:( so sad. We have had a few hit the windows here but never a raptor (knock on wood)
A friend of ours had the unfortunate experience of a turkey vulture taking a dive through his windshield while he was driving. He was very lucky it went in the passenger side but it looked like a murder scene in the car, quite the sight!
 
The new Buick Park Avenue grill badging... a little super glue and the grill was like new. Can't say the same for the hawk.

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On the bright side, the prey bird was a European Starling, a highly-invasive and detrimental species in North America (they destroy native birds' nests and compete with them for food). So one fewer of those guys is a good thing for the environment. :thumbup:
 
Dont feel too bad for the starling... I use those for target practice. Bummer about the hawk though, he was just trying to get some lunch....

Today I saw a bald eagle drop in on a duck just minding his own business. Then flew it over to a post and tore it apart while it was still alive and ate it. I'm REALLY glad we're bigger than birds of prey...


 
The new Buick Park Avenue grill badging... a little super glue and the grill was like new. Can't say the same for the hawk.

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Allow me to reiterate my prior sentiments...................................

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