Son
Gone But Not Forgotten
While managing a farm on the Chattahoochee River for hunting and tree farming it gave me a good chance to observe wildlife closeup as I lived right in the middle of it all. Redtail hawks took more young turkeys than any other predator. And they catch them right up until they past grown chicken size. There is a powerpole in the middle of a 20 acre field and each year when hens had poults the ground around that pole would be covered with young turkey parts. After noticing this I took particular attention to one hen with ten poults. I watched them from when they were the size of your thumb until there wasn't but one left. And it was a jake, the last time I saw him he was about the size of his mom. Each morning I would ride down and check that pole. And there would be the redtail eating turkey on many mornings. The hawks best time to catch em must have been when they first came off the roost. I'm not there anymore, but far as I know, the redtail is.
Coopers hawk, commonly called a chicken hawk. Once saw one dive at a group of poults guarded by two hen turkeys. One hen turkey met the hawk in midair and flew out of sight on his tail. While the attacking hen was gone, the other hen puffed up to look as big as possible and stood over the poults. Couple minutes went by and the attacking hen came flying back to land. Then they walked off into the woods. Turkeys are better in the air than I once thought. Believe somewhere I read they can fly 55 mph.
Another incidence: Was sitting in a hunting stand watching a young coopers hawk catch lizards. That is until 9 jakes came feeding by. The hawk glided to the ground for another lizard and all nine jakes attacked. The jakes puffed up, put their heads straight out and ran at the hawk. The surprised hawk dropped his lizard and flew off.
Anybody else seen stuff like this?
Coopers hawk, commonly called a chicken hawk. Once saw one dive at a group of poults guarded by two hen turkeys. One hen turkey met the hawk in midair and flew out of sight on his tail. While the attacking hen was gone, the other hen puffed up to look as big as possible and stood over the poults. Couple minutes went by and the attacking hen came flying back to land. Then they walked off into the woods. Turkeys are better in the air than I once thought. Believe somewhere I read they can fly 55 mph.
Another incidence: Was sitting in a hunting stand watching a young coopers hawk catch lizards. That is until 9 jakes came feeding by. The hawk glided to the ground for another lizard and all nine jakes attacked. The jakes puffed up, put their heads straight out and ran at the hawk. The surprised hawk dropped his lizard and flew off.
Anybody else seen stuff like this?