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SW Washington Field Work 2017


SWWASAS

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7 hours ago, BigTreeWalker said:

Maybe this is what happened to it. :)

 

 

C91Vi.jpg

I had seen this when googling bunny pics. That is SO cool! Can't tell if hawk or owl (suspect former based on wing shape), or even if the kill was made or if it got off. Either way, just a remarkable photo.

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My impressions. The bird came in with the sun to it's back to use the light as a blinder for its approach. Looks like it then banked left to expose it talons for the grab as the left wing imprint is somewhat deeper. Once the weight of the rabbit was part of the equation the birds feet dipped into the snow intermittently with each successive wing beat as it tried to gain altitude while still coming left out of the swoop. such an amazing record of technique, strength and tactical knowledge. Nature is so generous in its lessons. The rabbit, blinded by the sun probably never saw the bird coming until the sudden shadow and by then it was too late. Conclusion: it got the rabbit.

Edited by hiflier
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LOL, this reminds me of a crime scene investigation a co-worker and I did regarding the seeming disappearance of a mouse in the snow.  No evidence of the bird, but the zigzagging of the mouse and the blood splatters along with the disappearance of any further tracks led us to believe it was an aerial attack.  No aliens were suspected.

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Hard to tell if the tracks are going to the tree or coming from it. If coming from it toward the camera then the bunny might not have gotten caught mid-hop

Edited by hiflier
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I have seen a hawk get a rodent clean and barely slow down as it flew away.      If it had been on snow I doubt that there would be much to see other than the tracks stopping suddenly.       One day I saw a red tailed hawk hit a pigeon on a roof nearby.      It looked like the pigeon exploded because there was a big puff of feathers.     The hawk sat and ate the pigeon in full view of several other pigeons on the roof.    I guess they thought they were safe and did not even fly away.    

Edited by SWWASAS
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In that picture the two sets of tracks are probably unrelated. The "rabbit" (not sure that's what it was) came in from the left, hawk got it... End of story. The other tracks are something else. They come almost directly from the tree, probably a squirrel. It was probably light weight since it wasn't laboring through the snow, simply bounding on top. No way to tell the timing of the two events from that. Whatever the hawk got was laboring through the snow, not rabbit-like at all. If the hawk had worked at getting off the ground there would have been wing tip prints after the 1st hit.

With no size comparison that could have been an eagle and whatever it got bigger than a rabbit. Looking at tracks in a picture, no matter how good, is simply guess work. Especially with nothing to show size. 

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I thought the "labored" tracks were that of the bird trying to take off again....

 

OR come to think of it....those are the tracks of the human that used a stick to scratch out the impression of the bird.

 

They are way to big and heavy of a track for a bird to prey on.

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  • 3 months later...
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Took a camping trip into the Central Cascades area of Oregon.    Westfir  area.   Camped at Casey's Campground  in Westfir area.    It is a private campground that they claim is rated #1 in Oregon.  Nice place and camped next to the conjunction of the Middle fork and North Fork of the Willamette River.        Pretty hot one day but windy so was not too bad.     Visit to the ranger station produced a map that had a Skookum area designation off of FR19 North of there.  .     Of course had to check that out.     The road follows the middle fork of the North Fork of the Willamette River.   Pretty country.       The road in was paved and in pretty good shape  compared with most forest service roads in my area of Washington.      A grove of 200+ year old trees known as Constitution Grove has huge Doug Fir and Cedar trees,  some of which are 10 feet across at the base.          Each of the big trees have a sign that names them for the signatories of the US Constitution.     The Skookum area was interesting but pretty buggy with the mosquitoes hatching as the snow melting.     Somehow with the bugs I doubt that BF would not be around there this time of year.  

Edited by SWWASAS
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