Impressive dog fight

Dantilla · 05-13-2009, 01:55 PM

Shamelessly stolen from another board:

I got this from a friend who runs a 2000 acre corn farm up around Barron WI, not far from Oshkosh. He used to fly F4Es and F-16s for the Guard and participated in the first Gulf War...

Submitted for your enjoyment, and as a reminder that there are other great, magnificent flyers around.

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 bastard, about 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° 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 reinforcements 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, 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 altitude.

This aerial battle was better than any airshow I've been to, including the warbirds 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!

m21sniper · 05-13-2009, 02:11 PM

Awesome story, would have loved to have seen that too.

Moral of the story: you need to get yourself a good video phone!

PeteT · 05-13-2009, 02:13 PM

I know it's not a Bald eagle but sure am glad the founders decided on an eagle and not a turkey! Great story.

GH85Carrera · GH85Carrera's Garage

Cool story. I would love to have seen it as well. I watched a Scissortail flycatcher (the Oklahoma state bird) chasing several moths. It was amazing how fast the bird could change directions. It only lasted a few seconds but the bird ate several moths. Not quite as cool as eagles but it was nature at work.

450knotOffice · 450knotOffice's Garage

Thanks for the story. Amazing what those hawks and Eagles can do. I saw a medium size hawk dive out of the sky and nab an unsuspecting songbird in mid flight. Amazing.

charleskieffner · 05-13-2009, 03:09 PM

i watch my family of harris hawks..........big daddy hawk , mommy hawk, and jr. ,and jr., and junior-ette hawks..........................RID THE HELL OUT OF MY PLACE OF RODENTENS!

and for good measure now that its getting real hot out................rattlesnakes!

nothing better than werking yer ass off outside, trying to stay hydrated with ample amounts of ice cold barley pops and watch one of them fly back to their nest with a nice 4 footer diamondback!

laugh my ass off everytime! they hang on top of my 2nd story along with the hooty owls. no snakes on my property so far this year!

ckissick · 05-13-2009, 08:04 PM

I used to have dogfights with red-tailed hawks when I flew my radio control glider over a coastal hillside with a nice onshore breeze. The hawk would dive down on my plane from behind, thinking the "bird" couldn't see it. Of course, I could see it and could take evasive manouvers. Even so, the bouts always ended up with a disabled, ripped up glider. Still, it was always a lot of fun. I always hoped the hawk would show up.

m21sniper · 05-13-2009, 08:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ckissick

I used to have dogfights with red-tailed hawks when I flew my radio control glider over a coastal hillside with a nice onshore breeze. The hawk would dive down on my plane from behind, thinking the "bird" couldn't see it. Of course, I could see it and could take evasive manouvers. Even so, the bouts always ended up with a disabled, ripped up glider. Still, it was always a lot of fun. I always hoped the hawk would show up.

you needed to mount a co2 powered airsoft pistol to that glider, lol.

ckissick · 05-13-2009, 10:12 PM

I didn't have that, but my friend could attach 8 bombs made from shotgun shells under the wings of his powered RC plane, and drop one bomb at a time. One put a good dent on the hood of his car.

pwd72s · 05-13-2009, 11:59 PM

Loved the story...lots of Eagles around here during lambing season. It's not just humans who enjoy rack of lamb...

rouxroux · 05-14-2009, 03:24 AM

Without having this moved to PARF, I could probably name the 3 crows!

HHI944 · 05-14-2009, 04:19 AM

Damn, I was really hoping for a video of Micheal Vick getting his face ripped off by a pitbull.

Zeke · 05-14-2009, 07:21 AM

Well written.

p930man · p930man's Garage

Great story!

KarlCarrera · 05-14-2009, 12:24 PM

Wow, Great story and easy to picture. A video would've had a million hits.

Thanks
Karl
88 Targa

TerryH · TerryH's Garage

Great story. We all like to see the crows lose occasionally. They are usual bullies and rob nests left and right. It takes birds of prey to put them in their place.

Here's one I snapped a few months ago. Seems this Cooper Hawk was about to dine on a morning dove, but first had to smother/stomp/kill it. I shooed it off because my dog was going nuts and I didn't want the feathery mess under my orange tree. He had no problem lifting off with the added weight. Although I'd rather had seen him eat crow, I'm sure dove is less of a threat to the hawk.

t6dpilot · t6dpilot's Garage

Now that was a great read. Great story telling - thanks for sharing. You must be a pilot.