Wildlife in Your Life

It looks like a Coopers Hawk to me (possibly a Sharp Shinned, they are very hard to differentiate). Where was the picture taken (what state)?

I am pretty sure that's in SoCal.

I turned onto a dead-end street the other night and startled two baby raccoons who had been playing in the street. They were about the size of beer cans with legs and the one took off scampering across the yard while the other one instinctively began to climb the nearest thing possible. Unfortunately for him it was the dead end street sign. He got up the post to the bottom of the sign and then realized he had made a mistake. As I watched him he clawed at the metal of the sign, trying to get a grip and climb upward. His little paws scratched desperately on the smooth surface and they really began to speed up as I got out of my truck and walked toward him.

He was level with my face as I neared him and now I stood a foot from him and we stared face to face. I saw fear in his eyes as my hand shot out, quick as a wink, and grabbed him. In one fluid motion, done quickly so he couldn't bite me, I grabbed him by the back, pulled him from the post, and tossed him into the tall weeds.

There was a lady watching this whole ordeal from her window. I caught her eye seconds after the raccoon was airborne and smiled at her. She gasped as she snapped the blind shut.

Gosh gustav, you're so barbaric

Yes, rosborne, it was taken in San Diego, CA. I have no clue, thought
it was a golden eagle. Here is another picture of another bird.

This bird looks like a Golden Eagle. The first one you posted still looks like a Coopers Hawk to me.

Coopers live in your area, as do Sharp Shinned Hawks, so it turns out that the location of the picture doesn't matter very much. Coopers and Sharpies live throughout the US

Bear in mind that young balds look like small Goldens from a distance. Around here, unless I can judge size pretty closely, I can't necessarily tell them apart. When they're sitting on roadkill on the shoulder, the difference is more obvious. If they take off over the road and fill your windshield, it doesn't matter, because they're both lethal.

Just saw this rabbit in garden (sorry for the bad quality of the pic, but it's afte sunset here and the rabbit was additional not very close as well):



It's holding a cigarette in that leg, btw :wink:

In plain view from my parents' place we've got fledged, but dependent hawks screeching at their parents and osprey chicks who are suffering from failure to launch. They're hogging up their parents' nest. I ran into, literally!, a nest of baby shrews while I was gardening. They were still nekkid and their eyes were closed. Eventually their mamma came to relocate them - those that survived . Also some odd black and orange wasps all over certain blooms and monarch butterflies. I even saw a humming bird. It's like a wild life show around here.

That's no eagle. Way too small, and the tiny hooked beak isn't golden eagleesque. I'd guess it's a Harris hawk.

Is Jane's hawk a zone-tailed hawk?

A golden eagle. Note the powerful beak and haunches. Six to eight foot wingspan. I often see their cousins the baldy when I'm out in the woods. They have massive talons, as big as a man's fist, but you'll never see them unless you get too close.

Jane's bird had yellow legs, too.

But without feathers. I'm not sure what it was. Pretty good sized bird though.

Baldies are my favorite. They circle over me in the woods with their signature screech, very kewl. And they're huge.

Birdwatching is sort of an unintentional consequence of hunting. Because you stay so still, I've had birds land on me thinking I was a tree. Thank goodness they were little ones. They also are the language of the forest, you listen to them as the sun comes up and the woods come alive. They can tell you many things, but it's kinda hard to figure out what they're saying!

Some of the wildlife in and around the caravan park i am living at whilst working away from home

Thanks for the photos, dadpad. (Were you up late, or did they wake you up?)

I'm a big boy now Tai, I can stay up till after it gets dark.

A blue tongue! And, I think it was very thoughtful of you to let the little guy surf A2K for a while. Did he get a chance to post?

Remember, folks, don't give your password to a reptile.

Isnt he wonderfull! he's not long shed his skin from the looks of the colour.
Blue tongues are the best snail hunters you've ever seen.