Went out for some errands, and upon arriving home, I found this in my backyard:


My guess is that another dove met it’s demise.
They’re none too quick on takeoff.

Looks like someone had a good snack.

Found other feathers mixed in.

DNA from attacker or victim?

It was Rainman64's hawk.

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
It was Rainman64's hawk.

That's a helluva commute if so!

I’ve seen a red tail hawk take a dove from the roof. The remains looked very similar.

quote:

Originally posted by SJS:
I’ve seen a red tail hawk take a dove from the roof. The remains looked very similar.

I've seen cooper's hawks and red-tail hawks in the area, so that's a distinct possibility.

 
Our GHOs leave a similar pile after dining on one of our many quail or dove.
 

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:
 
Our GHOs leave a similar pile after dining on one of our many quail or dove.
 

I haven’t seen any owls here. Too much traffic here in town I think.
Saw one at my friend’s house, but he lives in a rural location on 7.5 acres.

Saw a fox and kits a couple blocks over a few years ago, but no owls.


3rd time this year that I’ve seen remnants in my yard. One was rabbit, but the others both appear to be doves. Wish they’d take out the damned squirrels.

We have a fox around here that does that, but it's usually more bloody. Usually looks like a bird exploded, with feathers everywhere and nothing else.

We have bird feeders and the doves flock in to pick the spilled seed of the ground.

Every couple months we have that scene. Have thought about putting up a game camera to try and capture it.

Took a walk and heard some bird alarms. I then came across an adult red-tailed hawk eating something on a tree stump. After the RTHA left, I walked over and came across this gruesome site:

quote:

Originally posted by 911Boss:
We have bird feeders and the doves flock in to pick the spilled seed of the ground.
...

Same situation here. I like keeping the cardinals close by year-round. A splash of color during our bleak winters helps keep my spirits up.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't saw it with my own eyes but my brother and I were dove hunting when we were around 12 or 13. My brother makes a great shot on a passing dove about 40 yards out and at right at tree top height. The dove folds up and starts falling like a stone. Before the dove hits the ground some bird of prey swoops in catches the bird and flies off. It was the damnedest thing I had seen in my life until I became a police officer.

Yeah, birds of prey in action are quite a thing to behold. I was sitting on a ferry dock in South Seattle with a coworker a few years ago. He pointed out a bald eagle sitting on one of the structures for the dock. We watched it for a while, and suddenly off he goes and snatches a fish out of the water and lands on a little 6' square floating barge tied out in the Sound. He was just about to start eating and these seagulls, about four to six of them start circling and calling. That eagle just stood there like "which one of you gets to be dessert?" Sure enough, one of them tried to go after the eagle's fish and got chased out of there right quick and was lucky to keep its life. The other seagulls kept away and the eagle took his time eating the fish. It was awesome.

This last summer, my sister visited and we took the whole family up to Snoqualmie Falls and hiked down to one of the pools down below the falls. My sister noticed a hawk with some sort of yellow breast sitting on a long branch overhanging a deeper part of one of the large parts of the river. About a minute later, he rocket out of that tree straight into the water and came out and flew away with a fish.

quote:

Originally posted by C-Dubs:
Wish they’d take out the damned squirrels.

AZ version of a squirrel. I seriously wish the raptor and snakes could do a better job on these little guys. They make "towns" like Prairie Dogs. Step on one and you can turn your ankle.
 

 

I live in a suburban area and We do have a very large redwood tree in our backyard and it’s home to hawks and owls. We see them often. My wife stays at home during the day and has taken some quite up close pics of them on the fence. One day one was eating lunch at the top of a city strret light post that sits at the curb between me and my neighbors yards. Old boy was just shredding a dove, left the guts and feathers on the sidewalk for me to hose off into the gutter..inconsiderate bastard. Beautiful creatures.

It isn't only birds of prey that snatch stuff out of the air. I was taking a ferry from Helsinki to Suomenlinna and was eating a hot dog when I turned my head to speak to someone and a seagull swooped by and yanked the hot dog right out of my hand! I barely even saw a shadow flit by, it was so fast.

flashguy

quote:

Originally posted by henryaz:

quote:

Originally posted by C-Dubs:
Wish they’d take out the damned squirrels.

AZ version of a squirrel. I seriously wish the raptor and snakes could do a better job on these little guys. They make "towns" like Prairie Dogs. Step on one and you can turn your ankle.
 

 

Dirt squirrel.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Dirt squirrel.

An apt description. Technically, a Round-tailed ground squirrel. Bothersome little pests. I cleared all the bushes and trees out of our dog compound before fencing it in. This discourages the rodents' presence, and thus discourages snakes in that area. But elsewhere on our property, you'd better watch where you step, or you'll end up with a twisted ankle at best.