Must be a relative of S-hawk!

[999000]

 

 




 

 



Mess with the best, you die like the rest.
Subject: PILOT STORY (But Not What You Think) Kill'em and Eat'em This came from a gent who runs a 2000 acre corn farm up around Barron , Wi ., not far from Oshkosh . He used to fly F-4Es and F-16s for the Guard and participated in the first Gulf War.

His story:

I went out to plant corn for a bit to finish a field before tomorrow> morning and witnessed The Great Battle. A golden eagle - big, with about a six foot wingspan - flew right in front of the tractor. It was being chased by three crows that were continually dive bombing it and pecking at it. The crows do this because the eagles rob their nests when they find them.

At any rate, the eagle banked hard right in one evasive maneuver, then landed in the field about 100 feet from the tractor. This eagle
 stood about 3 feet tall. The crows all landed too, and took up positions around the eagle at 120 degrees apart, but kept their distance at about 20 feet from the big bird. The eagle would take a couple steps towards one of the crows and they'd hop backwards and forward to keep their distance. Then the reinforcement showed up.

I happened to spot the eagle's mate hurtling down out of the sky at what appeared to be approximately Mach 1.5. Just before impact the eagle on the ground took flight, (obviously a coordinated tactic;
probably pre-briefed) and the three crows which were watching the grounded eagle, also took flight thinking they were going to get in some more pecking on the big bird.

The first crow being targeted by the diving eagle never stood a snowball's chance in hell. There was a mid-air explosion of black feathers and that crow was done. The diving eagle then banked hard left in what had to be a 9G climbing turn, using the energy it had accumulated in the dive, and hit crow #2 less than two seconds later.

Another crow dead.

The grounded eagle, which was now airborne and had an altitude advantage on the remaining crow, which was streaking eastward in full burner, made a short dive then banked hard right when the escaping crow tried to evade the hit. It didn't work - crow #3 bit the dust at about 20 feet AGL.

This aerial battle was better than any air show I've been to, including the war birds show at Oshkosh . The two eagles ripped the crows apart and ate them on the ground, and as I got closer and closer working my way across the field, I passed within 20 feet of one of them as it ate its catch. It stopped and looked at me as I went by and you could see in the look of that bird that it knew who's Boss Of The Sky. What a beautiful bird!


I loved it. Not only did they kill their enemy, they ate them.  One of the best Fighter Pilot stories I've seen in a long time...  There
are no noble wars-- Only noble warriors


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 999000 <S>
 

 
 
 

 
 

 

[APDrone]

 

[mbailey]

Never read that anywhere, Great story sir  

[skribetm]

picture of shawks relative

[Dragon]

Good story 999000, thanks for sharing

 

[oakranger]

That is eagles for you, nothing but scavengers.  Great story 999000

[WMLute]

They had "mullet day" at the Pittsburgh Zoo this past week.

All people coiffed with a mullet got free admission.

The winner of "Best Mullet" got a free haircut.

I thought of Shawk of course when I read that in the paper.

[tokenjo]

All hail Tino Martino ... and his royal bro's.

Tokenjo

[druski85]

Those gangtard crows got picked something fierce.   

Great story, thanks for sharing.   

[Buzzard7]

Love to watch a big raptor work magic in the air. Goldens are huge birds. We have a female that frequents a shooting range nearby. All the noise scares up the rodents at the range.  She will come in at low altitude while we are shooting and snatch up a prairie dog or two. Always better than an airshow and much less noise.

[AWwrgwy]

That is eagles for you, nothing but scavengers.  Great story 999000

Inigo Montoya: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Scavenger 2. An animal, such as a bird or insect, that feeds on dead or decaying matter.

Great story.

  Eagles
  Crows


wrongway

[mtnman]

That is eagles for you, nothing but scavengers.  Great story 999000

If you eat meat from the grocery store, or at a restaurant, you're a scavenger. 

Bald eagles get much of their food through scavenging, goldens don't scavenge quite as much.  Regardless, killing the crows, and then eating them is not an example of scavenging. 

Considering where this story supposedly took place, I'd be pretty skeptical as far as believing these were goldens.  Immature balds are much more common to that area at that time of year, and can be quite difficult to differentiate from goldens, especially to a "normal" person.  Goldens do visit the state but are generally very scarce, and hang around the southwest portion of the state near the Mississippi river, and are generally just laying over during the winter months.  A friend of mine was actively working with the DNR to trap and radio tag goldens in Wisconsin this winter.

Bald eagles, even though they're notorious for scavenging and stealing food from other birds, are still capable of some surprising feats when it comes to hunting.  I've watched them hunt ducks, and was initially shocked at how efficient they can be as predators.

Golden eagles are just plain awesome predators.  They're capable of hunting some seriously large quarry, and it's especially amazing when you realize the big ones (females) are only running 12-14 pounds.

[oakranger]

If you eat meat from the grocery store, or at a restaurant, you're a scavenger. 

Bald eagles get much of their food through scavenging, goldens don't scavenge quite as much.  Regardless, killing the crows, and then eating them is not an example of scavenging. 

Considering where this story supposedly took place, I'd be pretty skeptical as far as believing these were goldens.  Immature balds are much more common to that area at that time of year, and can be quite difficult to differentiate from goldens, especially to a "normal" person.  Goldens do visit the state but are generally very scarce, and hang around the southwest portion of the state near the Mississippi river, and are generally just laying over during the winter months.  A friend of mine was actively working with the DNR to trap and radio tag goldens in Wisconsin this winter.

Bald eagles, even though they're notorious for scavenging and stealing food from other birds, are still capable of some surprising feats when it comes to hunting.  I've watched them hunt ducks, and was initially shocked at how efficient they can be as predators.

Golden eagles are just plain awesome predators.  They're capable of hunting some seriously large quarry, and it's especially amazing when you realize the big ones (females) are only running 12-14 pounds.

There are some great video of a Golden Eagle snatching a young mountain goat, climes up and released it to its death. 

[cattb]

In 1979 I worked on the river in La Crosse, I would hardly ever see a bald eagle. The species has really made a come back. In the early ninties I really noticed how the numbers I could count in spring and fall went up.

Couple years ago, I was going by a part of the river, the ice was breaking up, spring of course, and must of counted between 25 to 30 in one area.

[TEShaw]

Beautiful, beautiful story; well told, 999.

I'm a bit of a bird watcher here. When the chipmunk moves too slow, the big bird snags it.

I view this game as more avian than 'cartoon'. ('Cartoon': what a shallow, unimaginative term to describe Aces High!)