Breakfast in an Atlanta woods

[H2S]

Thirty minutes ago...
I was looking out the kitchen window, watching the activity at our bird feeder - twenty feet away...
A blur, a flurry, an explosion of feathers...
A peregrine falcon clutching a titmouse in one talon, ruffles herself then wings off...
Took all of three seconds.
I'm still in a state of shock and awe.

 

[fordman84]

Thirty minutes ago...
I was looking out the kitchen window, watching the activity at our bird feeder - twenty feet away...
A blur, a flurry, an explosion of feathers...
A peregrine falcon clutching a titmouse in one talon, ruffles herself then wings off...
Took all of three seconds.
I'm still in a state of shock and awe.

Nice

I was out sitting inthe backyard "tending" teh smoker two weekends ago when I saw something move in the woods behind my house. I turned and didn't see anything. My dog was staring off into the woods and there was some squaking going on by some grackels, so I turned again to look. After about 20 seconds I finally saw what it was. We have squirrels all over the dang place (5 were playing on the roof this morning when i was trying to wrangle my son into the car and he only wanted to watch them). I had seen one running along my fence earlier. A hawk had swooped in and grabbed himself a squirrel and perched on a tree about 20 yards away. I was staring right at him, but couldn't see him until he moved to pick at it. He was a MASSIVE dude too. The squirrel looked like a tiny field mouse in his claw. The other birds didn't like him being perched up there, but it was pretty freaking cool. We also have barred owls all over the place, and I opened our umbrella a months or so ago and saw something that i thought was a little frog. Nope, a little bat.

i have pics of the bat and the hawk, will try to get them off my phone and post em here.

 

[fordman84]

Guess I have moved the hawk over to the home computer, but still have the bat on there:

 

[WhiteMamba]

Last summer I was out in the mountains with my Dad. It was about midnight. Full moon so we decided to get the game call out and go see if we could get some coyotes worked up.. We did. But as we sat there an owl came swoopin down right in front of the truck, a mouse was his target. The owl pounced him and turned his wings out, creating like a ring for the mouse so it couldnt get away.... Cool shit....

 

[WhiteMamba]

H2S, fordman... Cool stuff...

H2S. Great way to start the weekend man....

 

[HammerDown]

We have these freakin pidgeons and doves (I'm in town and can't use the .410 on them! ) and one day my wife was relaxing by the pool when a vulture (of all things) flew in like a falcon and plucked a pidgeon off the roof and kept right on going. Same thing, a shower of feathers came floating down. She thought it was cruel, I loved it!

 

[H2S]

fordman?
wow...too coo...build a batbox! you'll never see another mosquito. Also, it looks like your woods are even thicker than mine...it's amazing that such large birds (hawks, falcons and bigassed owls like the barred) can maneuver through that shit at striking speed.

mamba?
thanks man...s'appreciated. Enjoy your weekend!

 

[RobBase]

I get a lot deer in my 3 acres of backyard. So I put a lot of scraps in my bird feeder knowing they'll eat it. One weekend I dropped a couple of old protein bars in there. Came back about 10 minutes later and they were all gone. So I put so more protein bars in there, a rice crispy treat, some bread and wait. Not even an hour later again, all this stuff is gone. So now I'm thinking there is something HUGE in my backyard somewhere. What is it? So I put some pizza out there. A couple of hours later my next door neighbor rings my doorbell. He has a a bunch of protein bars in his hands and a slice of pizza. Turns out his "slow" kid was visiting that weekend, stealing all the food out my bird feeder and hiding it in his dad's garage.

 

[HammerDown]

 

[H2S]

I get a lot deer in my 3 acres of backyard. So I put a lot of scraps in my bird feeder knowing they'll eat it. One weekend I dropped a couple of old protein bars in there. Came back about 10 minutes later and they were all gone. So I put so more protein bars in there, a rice crispy treat, some bread and wait. Not even an hour later again, all this stuff is gone. So now I'm thinking there is something HUGE in my backyard somewhere. What is it? So I put some pizza out there. A couple of hours later my next door neighbor rings my doorbell. He has a a bunch of protein bars in his hands and a slice of pizza. Turns out his "slow" kid was visiting that weekend, stealing all the food out my bird feeder and hiding it in his dad's garage.

that is some funny shiz. I guess the guy was too embarrassed to ask what kind of birds you were feeding pizza to.

 

[H2S]

We have these freakin pidgeons and doves (I'm in town and can't use the .410 on them!) and one day my wife was relaxing by the pool when a vulture (of all things) flew in like a falcon and plucked a pidgeon off the roof and kept right on going. Same thing, a shower of feathers came floating down. She thought it was cruel, I loved it!

Doves, I can take...feathered rats, though? nah. v'never heard of a vulture diving live prey...that had to be way awesome stuff.

 

[fordman84]

fordman?
wow...too coo...build a batbox! you'll never see another mosquito. Also, it looks like your woods are even thicker than mine...it's amazing that such large birds (hawks, falcons and bigassed owls like the barred) can maneuver through that shit at striking speed.

mamba?
thanks man...s'appreciated. Enjoy your weekend!

Just saw this thread again.

For the batbox, I really want to but need to check on the town regulations. I'm in a pretty uppity suburb of Dallas with permits for everything and enforcement that is insane about catching stuff. The woods are actually a creek behind our house with a park on the other side. There is some crazy stuff living out there. Neighbor killed a MASSIVE copperhead in his garage, this thing was fat as hell. Just after my son was born we were walking him and there is a path that cuts through the woods. As we were walking I stopped to tie my shoe and I hear my wife say "oh look, a dog." and starts whistling for it. I look up and about 15 yards away is a coyote. I calmly explained what that was, clapped my hands, and off he went. We have bobcats and all sorts of cool stuff all around us since we have so much wooded area. Deer all over the place too, which is odd for a Dallas suburb. But, construction going on and things are flushing out.

Oh, and there is poison ivy EVERYwhere. That keeps me from enjoying the woods as much as I'd like.

 

[H2S]

Evening in an Atlanta Woods

v'been out on the screen porch...
no lights...clear skies, no moon...
the night is still as death - except for the joyful cacophony made by mobbing cicadas, tree peepers, crickets, owls and othersuch...
all punctuated by sprinklings of glow bugs throughout.
s'fucking magic!

 

[HuskerInSecLand]

I get a lot deer in my 3 acres of backyard. So I put a lot of scraps in my bird feeder knowing they'll eat it. One weekend I dropped a couple of old protein bars in there. Came back about 10 minutes later and they were all gone. So I put so more protein bars in there, a rice crispy treat, some bread and wait. Not even an hour later again, all this stuff is gone. So now I'm thinking there is something HUGE in my backyard somewhere. What is it? So I put some pizza out there. A couple of hours later my next door neighbor rings my doorbell. He has a a bunch of protein bars in his hands and a slice of pizza. Turns out his "slow" kid was visiting that weekend, stealing all the food out my bird feeder and hiding it in his dad's garage.

Lol that is some funny shit.

 

[Edisto_Tiger]

Experienced something similar to this a few times. I used to keep bird feeders all around the yard so I had lots of birds, all the time. THe doves would perch on the overhead powerlines when they weren't on the ground feeding and like you guys I caught something out of the corner of my eye and turned to see what it was. It was a redtail hawk launching out of a tall pine and headed for the doves. The hawk crossed my field of vision in a split second and by the time I caught up with him, he had already hit a dove on the powerline. I could hear the thud of the hit and then just a cloud of feathers floating to the ground. Awesome stuff.

 

[tech_iceman]

I get a lot deer in my 3 acres of backyard. So I put a lot of scraps in my bird feeder knowing they'll eat it. One weekend I dropped a couple of old protein bars in there. Came back about 10 minutes later and they were all gone. So I put so more protein bars in there, a rice crispy treat, some bread and wait. Not even an hour later again, all this stuff is gone. So now I'm thinking there is something HUGE in my backyard somewhere. What is it? So I put some pizza out there. A couple of hours later my next door neighbor rings my doorbell. He has a a bunch of protein bars in his hands and a slice of pizza. Turns out his "slow" kid was visiting that weekend, stealing all the food out my bird feeder and hiding it in his dad's garage.

 

[H2S]

By 1968, no Peregrine Falcons existed east of the Mississipi River

now we've got a family roosting somewhere in our neighborhood.

was just now sitting out on the back porch...very quiet day...a vole ambled out from under the porch about 6 feet into the yard (voles are incredibly stupid, slow, clumsy little things...and my back yard is mostly moss, with not a blade of grass to hide behind)...and then: BOOM!

the vole was under-talon, with Mrs Peregrine standing on it bold as day - 15' away from my dropped jaw...none of the obliteration run we saw earlier with the titmouse, this time she - almost leisurely - dropped down for a slow-moving furry snack...stood there posing for at least 10 seconds, then flew 50' away to the crook of a tree and spent 5 minutes eating.

Her name is Queen Kong...I'm off to Petsmart to buy a few sacrificial mice.

 

[H2S]

Fate is Fucked, sometimes

so...you hatched in 1996, burrowed down into the ground and have grubbed along ever since...

until just a little while ago, metabolic chimes sounded, your skin hardened, legs grew and being underground any longer just wasn't on the agenda...so you dig up...

and find yourself inside some asshole's screened-in porch...you climb up the screen a ways and stop...WTF? more changes?...your new hard skin is breaking open, someyou new is emerging...cicada time! and while you stretch your wings, get your new bearings...

mama box spider feels the vibes, lays out a strand or two of silk...they catch...she races to wrap before you realize it's been done...you're now the living pantry for her thousand children.

 

[H2S]

Moles are unwelcome in every lawn...

but in my back yard?...haha, moles are unpaid labor.

We live on a steep hill...the only 'yard' we have is a 30' x 150' strip* I gouged out of the slope uphill from the house 25 years ago (was cool, rented a back-ho on Easter weekend) so the boys and me could play pitch/catch. There's maybe 2" of topsoil that can barely support a thin coating of moss. Works for us, we've got a perpetually green yard that never needs mowing.

Last week, I noticed that a mole or six had burrowed a network of tunnels throughout the back sward. First reaction was anger...googled "fucking moles, how to kill them!"...learned that moles aren't herbivores, they're after meat - worm & grub meat...that when they burrow your grass lawn, they expose the roots to air and your lawn dies...but they don't eat the grass (nor moss.)

All they're doing in my back yard is adding digging dross to the topsoil.

* picture is from 2004...the last time I tried to plant grass. The dog is my 6-month old wildasse Bubba (just adopted) - who ruined the whole lot in three weeks; and has been running on hardened moss ever since.

 

[H2S]

Bluebirds bring Happiness

We get a big kick out of watching the activity at our back yard bird feeder (about 20' away from the kitchen window.) Amazing diversity...3 brands of woodpecker, 3 of nuthatch and the usual gangs of chickadees, wrens, titmice, juncos, cardinals, blah blah...but hardly ever visited by BLUEBIRDS...until now.

Got a block of compacted, dried mealworms and hung it (along the suet cage) above the feeder a couple of weeks ago. It's been Bluebird Central around here ever since.

Picture was just taken. Merry Christmas everybody.