Comments on: Hawks, Not Parrots, On The Attack

By: cryptidsrus

cryptidsrus — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:21:00 +0000

I do agree that it’s going to come down to either them or us…

Hopefully a compromise will be made. Maybe some animal population control with some stoppage of human encrachment?

By: Loren Coleman

Loren Coleman — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 03:34:44 +0000

It is a stock photograph of a red-tailed hawk, not an otter, not photoshopped, and not a doctored image of a dead taxidermy item being thrown into the air.

By: maslo63

maslo63 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 01:31:06 +0000

I think you’re looking into these incidents a bit much Hoosier. The hawks had a nest nearby. Most any bird will defend its nest and the area around it from humans. I’ve been mobbed by blue jays, swallows, robins, black birds and countless others. This had nothing to do with a “loss of fear of man”. When the young hawks fledge and fly out of the nest the attacks will cease…till next year.

By: Munnin

Munnin — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 21:08:26 +0000

Hi Sparky1959 – like other hawks (and even sea gulls), red-tailed hawks go through different phases of plumage during their lives. Also, plumage tends to vary to some degree between individuals. I recently saw some video footage of a red-tailed hawk living in a rescue center, whose plumage is nearly pure white; with the exception of a couple of feathers in the tail, and on the throat. And this bird is not unique. Also, the plumage of any bird will appear different at different times, depending on whether you are looking at the back or the front of the bird, how far away it is, the brightness of the daylight when you view it, etc.

By: Amdusias

Amdusias — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:54:28 +0000

The only unprovoked animal “attack” I have ever had on me was a bird. I was sitting in the back yard, drinking a frosty Braggot (mead beer hybrid) that I had made myself, when a humming bird flew right up to my face, hovered, then poked me in the eye and flew off. It sounds like something that should be “good luck”. No idea what I did to deserve that. Maybe he is a beer-drinker.

By: Sparky1959

Sparky1959 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:13:11 +0000

I am no expert but I don’t think the hawk in the picture is a red tailed hawk. They’re pretty common here in Texas and they have red tails.

By: red_pill_junkie

red_pill_junkie — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:12:11 +0000

I hear helmets are quite fashionable this time of year

By: HOOSIERHUNTER

HOOSIERHUNTER — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:37:26 +0000

This is only going to continue and likely get worse. Wild animals are becoming less fearful of man as he encroaches into formally wild areas and the animals adapt to his presence. Confrontations always occur when one creature invades another’s territory. We are going to face the sad choice of either learning to live with animal attacks or we are going to have to forcibly control animal populations.
It may that the increase in aniimal attacks are because we have reached a critical juncture in population growth in both humans and animals. We protect many species which allows them to thrive, but at the same time we are taking their habitat forcing them to live in human populated areas. At some point something is going to have to give and the recent attacks may just be the beginning. Finally we will be left with a disturbing scenario: Do we choose more of them or more of us?

By: CamperGuy

CamperGuy — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:06:09 +0000

EXCELLENT PICTURE OF THE HAWK!!!

Glad there was not a knee-jerk reaction to kill the hawks.

I’d suggest people in the area walk with umbrellas opened and over their shoulders.

By: shumway10973

shumway10973 — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 12:20:48 +0000

I think it’s time to capture those 2 and carefully move their nest away from residential areas. I had a weird experience recently with a raven. No, not weird…creepy. I was trying to get my weed-eater started when a raven quietly swooped down behind me and somehow “landed” (no better word) at my bedroom window. It was literally holding onto my wall and attacking the window (hopefully just its reflection). When I realized what was happening I made some noise flailed my arms. The raven let go and dropped to the ground. I thought it was injured, at first, because it just walked away, but after it turned the corner (the distance of a 2 car carport and a 1 car garage) it flew off. Has anyone seen “The Birds?” Yeah, that’s what it felt like. Ya know, at the beginning of the bird’s attack where only 1 or 2 were seeming a little weird.