Comments

  2. says

    It’s a good thing they are around, too. If it wasn’t for vultures and others, the roads around here would be uncomfortably deep in corpses.

  3. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    I was driving a van in rural Oregon once. Big thing. For work.

    Way past nowhere there are many small towns that crop up and disappear just as fast as you can manually roll down a window -- frankly, it’s often faster.

    Approaching one of these small towns, with one actual human habitation no more than a hundred yards away on each side of the road, there was a deer, killed on the road. I kid you not, a whole deer. Not a big one, and having lost some fluid weight I’m sure it wasn’t over 150 pounds. Probably was under 100. Still. A whole deer.

    The golden eagle with its claws dug into the back was ripping up flesh, tipping its head back, & swallowing. It saw my van coming and just stared at me, like the sheer predatory malevolence of its gaze would force me aside. And, frankly, it did. But it still didn’t like that I was coming closer, even though more slowly, even as I moved into the other lane. So it leapt into the air and that first wingbeat was audible through my closed doors and window, over the v8 of the van. It was downright percussive. It turned at least one, but I think two lazy circles, then landed back on the deer as my van receded from it.

    I really had no idea how big and powerful an eagle really is until that day. They have to be light to fly, but I took their light weights to make a much more modest judgement of their power than is at all realistic. Aerodynamics may make it impossible for a bird to carry off a human, but I have no doubt a full grown eagle could kill an unarmored human quite easily.

  4. says

    CD:

    It saw my van coming and just stared at me, like the sheer predatory malevolence of its gaze would force me aside. And, frankly, it did. But it still didn’t like that I was coming closer, even though more slowly, even as I moved into the other lane. So it leapt into the air and that first wingbeat was audible through my closed doors and window, over the v8 of the van. It was downright percussive. It turned at least one, but I think two lazy circles, then landed back on the deer as my van receded from it.

    Saw the first dead deer of the season on the highway coming back home, a young one. Raptors are scary -- a lot of people don’t realize just how scary they are or how powerful, no experience. They aren’t terribly keen on sharing, either. I still see people letting tiny dogs run around loose, and just shake my head anymore. Around here, a lot of pets get taken by eagles and other raptors.

    One time when Rick was out and about, he saw a Northern Harrier in her nest, and pulled over to take some photos. She just watched while he was setting up his tripod, but at the first shutter click, she was out of the nest, and launched right at him, talons first. He ended up using the tripod to block her attempts to rip his face off, and managed to get back in his truck, finally. Scared the hell out him.

  5. abear says

    A friend of mine was trying to capture an eagle with a broken wing to take it to a rehab and he made a miscalculation, and the bird was able to roll over and seize his wrist and hand with its talons.
    His hand was pierced through and his wrist was seized with the claw going through to the bone. Fortunately, the major blood vessels weren’t involved and his nearby friend was able to pry him loose.
    Still it took months of rehab to get back to work.
    Birds are tough.

  6. chigau (違う) says

    Caine #4
    wow… did Rick get any decent pictures?
    I was once attacked by an arctic gull-like thing.
    I got a few crappy stills and a co-worker got a short video.
    I remember the thing being no more than a foot from my face, the video shows it more like 2 yards.
    and it was rather small

  8. says

    Chigau:

    wow… did Rick get any decent pictures?

    Hell no. He was afraid he might not get away with his life -- mothers are serious mean.

    Oy, the time. I haven’t messed about with that yet. Did you get an email from wordpress, Chigau? PZ added you, and said you should get the email, and just have to click a link to confirm and all that jazz.

  9. says

    abear:

    His hand was pierced through and his wrist was seized with the claw going through to the bone.

    Jesus. He got lucky, I’m glad he was okay.

  10. Crip Dyke, Right Reverend Feminist FuckToy of Death & Her Handmaiden says

    @abear:

    Birds are tough.

    There’s a reason I call them maniraptorans.

  11. Tethys says

    I used to live on the Mississippi river, and Bald Eagles were pretty common. Many eagles used to roost in the trees on the islands above a deep spot that usually did not freeze in the wintertime. They would make very uneagle-like burbling lilting sounds when they flocked up like this. They would have battles with groups of crows over fish. The crows would try to distract the eagle long enough for one of them to sneak in and grab some. Crows are far more maneuverable than eagles, I never saw an eagle even come close to touching one of the crows.

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