Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Birds of Prey

I love to see big huge birds! When we lived in Hurricane the local Falconer used to bring his 2 eagles over to the golf course to let them hunt rabbits. It was always incredible to watch. We had a wild Golden Eagle that lived over there too. We named her Goldy. One day she was sitting on top of this rock the size of a VW bug with 2 huge ravens trying to get whatever she had killed. It was amazing to watch her fight them off. I ran home to get my camera and she was gone by the time I got back.

Well, the other day my neighbor told us to come see what he brought home from work. It was a baby red tailed Hawk! He changes billboards and they found this HUGE nest this a huge baby in it. It still had it's downy so it couldn't fly yet. So, they kicked the nest down and carefully took the baby down. Meanwhile the Mom and Dad were not happy. They kept dive-bombing my neighbor and his co-worker. When they got back to work and told there boss the boss came unglued. They had broken 4 MAJOR federal laws. So, their boss called the authorities and tried to smooth things over. Luckily they were not charged because the Falconer in Hurricane said he would keep the baby until it's feathers grew in and then let it go. Here is a picture. Look at it's talons!

This next picture is of Turkey Vultures! We were driving on the back roads and saw 5 of them standing in a field and I slammed on the brakes. They were about 50 feet from us. You could see their red heads and snood. It was awesome. Then we saw this huge shadow as one flew right over us and landed in the field with the others. As we looked around we saw more circling in the air. 14 in all! It was so incredible. I've seen them since over by Dixie College. JoEllen says the live in a tree by Grandma Sullivan's. I am always in awe of big birds and the grace and strength the Lord gave them

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