More Hawk Hyginx!

[AustinTatious]

We had another amazing encounter with The Hawks that fly with us here in DFW....

THe first encounter was while I was flyin a small blue 3d indoor Extra 300.... I was upwind abotu 10 feet high and out of Nowhere Came a HUGE red tail! She got within abot a foot or less of my plane as I made avaisive action (punched throttle and climbed out vertically. She flew down and landed and sat there watching my plane.... I gave her a show and did some hovering near here.. she watched it for a little while and then flew off....

A bit later, She was still watching us from a Telephone pole... I decide to run down to a petshop and get a rat!

Unfortunatly, the pet shop I headed for was closed.... So back to the field...

As I pull up, my friends are takgin pictures and telling me to be quiet by putting their fingers against their lips....

I creep up and I cant believe it.. the Hawk is on the ground Pecking and messing with our winch line !!! she did this not 30 feet from us sittin on the ground !!!

We tried to see how close we could get and at about 25 feet she flew off again....

We are thinking maybee this bird is REALLY hungry.. So I go to plan B...

I go get some Chicked legs and string.... hehe ... no I missed a show while I was gone...

When I get back... One of my friends Banshee is on the ground with Talon Marks!!!

There were circling together in lift goig opposite directions and on one crossign, WHACK! The BOP Grabbed the wing with its Talons and HELD ON!!

The plane and Bird came tumbling down, the bird trying to hold onto the plane, finally realising that this aint a LIGHT plane! SHe lets go and the plane falls and Bill is finally able to recover and land to see the damage... Puncture marks and a chunk where we suspect she Bit it!

IT was awesome! We didnt see the bird anymore after that, but I suspect another day she will give us more thrills!

Unbelieveable!

[AustinTatious]

jsut so ya know I aint Bull Sh!TTIN!


Such a pretty Bird.. is it a Red Tail?

[Schwemmer]

From experience I know that Hawks love ground squirrels. If you happen to have a few extra around that happen to get in the way of your 22 cal, then bring them along next time. It would be neat if you could feed your club mascot.

Rick

[TexasJohn]

This is really some overly territorial bird with few inhibitions. From calls I've heard and birds I've seen, there are young from this year at NRH. Must really want to keep the kid safe.

The power of the talons is often compared to the bite of a big dog. The first bird of prey I trained was a very long-legged female Red-tailed hawk. While calling her to the glove with a reward of meat, I got careless and held the meat in front of her with my bare right hand instead of under my gloved thumb on my left. Guess what happens now (hint- a perched BOP if thrown a piece of meat even at high speed will jump from the perch and snatch it in the feet, still landing upright. I've seen this dozens of times but it still amazes me). Yep, she nailed me on the ungloved hand. The force was a shock and fortunately her talons were dull or I'd have been skewered. My free hand was no longer free and I had this 3-pound highly engineered killing machine CRUNCHING my hand with both her feet. You will not get loose - I nearly freaked. My teacher had to show the bird some tasty meat, so it let go. I had minor punctures and bruises.

I am sure this might bird could tear pieces from a sheeted wing with it's feet and beak - combined they complete a tearing machine. Surprisingly, the bite alone is no big deal.

I'm glad to see you take these incidents in a good light - not many people have ever seen this kind of behavior. I'm jealous.

[TexasJohn]

I just now saw the photos.

WOW!

This is an immature red-tailed hawk. I'm amazed at the agression, but less surprised at the curiosity and trust it showed. An older bird would be more wary while the young like this one - perhaps only a few months old since they leave the nest in this area in around April.