Scary!..

[AmyMyBlueFront]

...as most of you may know,I live with David (my bro ) in a town with about 45k residence. We live about one mile from the "center" of town,off a main street. The back yard is a mini oasis,with a bunch of tall tree's at the properties edge ( see pics I supplied). There is a small "stream" behind the tree line.maybe two feet wide and a foot deep,when there is sufficient water flowing lol. The houses on either side of us are vacant,the one on our right just went up for sale...the owner had passed last year and relatives from PA have been here cleaning it out,and the house on the left is owned by an elderly woman who is in a nursing home,David has been here four years now and has never seen the "owner". The place is still maintained..i.e. lawn mowed and snow removed. There is a car in the driveway but has no tag on it,not driven. So it is pretty quiet on this side of the street! Two blocks up the hill is a large cemetery. Our town has it's own social media website for residence to post.

People have posted seeing deer and a family of coyotes in there. About a mile away is a well-known college prep school..Choate School. Many of well known scholars have gone there..John F Kennedy for one. When I worked there in the kitchen in the early '70's while in high school I actually met Jamie Lee Curtis ( before she got famous lol) also the future Prince of Saudi Arabia and the son of the Sony's c.e.o. just to name a few. Anyway I'm getting off track here. People have posted seeing black bears on one of the soccer fields last year!

Our back yard has all sorts of wildlife. All sorts of birdies. Jays and robins and woody peckers chickadee's cardinals wrens orioles toehee's etc and an occasional hawk/falcon We have a family of ground hogs..Tank and his missus and their two kids Panzer and Sherman (TANK...get it? ) also a couple of the smallest/cutest bunnies you ever saw!
A couple Saturdays ago I was out on the deck about 6am having my tea and at the tree line I saw what looked to be a small doggo laying down. He was mostly white-ish mixed with grey and black with big ears sticking straight up..he was just laying there looking around. I went in the house to get David but the critter was gone. I'm sure it was a coyote.
A few days later I noticed we hadn't seen Tank or the Bunnies :02: I was worried they had become "snacks) for the coyote. Thank goodness I saw Tank early yesterday morning ( he and family are usually seen early am or late afternoon) and I saw two bunnies this morning.

So yesterday afternoon I took Amy outside for some fresh air and sunshine and I sat on the bottom step leading to the deck and let him walk in the grass at my feet as he nibbled on grass and a twig or two and grubs lol. All of a sudden Amy tilts his head sideways ( to look up) and made a "trill" sound he makes when he see's something that frightens him as he tried to climb my pants leg and a freakin hawk landed on the peak of the garage about forty feet away That bird was HUGE! I immediately bent down and scooped Amy up in my hands and went inside. Thank goodness Amy has great eye sight,,he saw that bird before i did!

Jim

 

[saxguy64]

Oh my goodness Jim! Scary is right. That's way too close for comfort! Yay for Amy's brilliant instincts and action on your part.

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[bigfellasdad]

Isn't nature fantastic, observing it shows just how far and detached us humans have become. Its great Amy hasn't lost her 'edge' for both of you.

Great house and surroundings by the way

The UK has reintroduced wild boar, red Kites and are soon to reintroduce European Bison as unfortunately, my ancestors ate or killed off any wild animal of any threat.

 

[Scott]

Lovely area to live and admire wildlife, Jim! Wouldn't be surprised to see coyotes, they have learned to live right in our neighborhoods and vacant patches of land.

Good thing Amy's early warning "radar" spotted that pesky hawk!

 

[wrench13]

Dodged one there for sure. Makes ya think twice about taking Amy out and about, at least round the current digs. Glad he was on his toes , so to speak.

 

[SailBoat]

Our home has been the center of young Red Tail Hawk high-speed inside turn training. At least five families use our home to practice... The sight of large adults down to this years young is common. Julio is very busy for around four weeks letting us know when the families are here practicing.

With the cross-section of wildlife, it is possible you may have black bear in the area. We see young black bear in the Spring, when mama pushes last year's cubs out on their own.

Looks like you're going to have to keep a Sky-Eye when you are out and about. That female you saw has clearly including your home as part of her hunting area.

FYI: The British have made a serious error in releasing wild boar. They multiply like rats and it all goes no hill from there.

 

[bigfellasdad]

FYI: The British have made a serious error in releasing wild boar. They multiply like rats and it all goes no hill from there.

I sort of agree with you, although poachers seem to be keeping a lid on the population. I also think that the world is not 'ours', or at least it would be a a sad world if it was 'ours'. The population is only at around 4k at present, but spreading around the country quickly as you say.

We have an over population of deer in the UK, we are not allowed to hunt anything unless land owners permission and we have licensed firearms (pop guns compared to the US, mostly rim fire and upto .308, but most use .223 nato here to hunt. 5 shot magazine and single shot bolt action only).

Personally ill hunt fox/rabbits if they are pests with my 17hmr, and leave the larger wildlife to spread. Again, its not just our world

i much prefer competitive target shooting by the way, air rifles.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

FYI: The British have made a serious error in releasing wild boar. They multiply like rats and it all goes no hill from there.

I sort of agree with you, although poachers seem to be keeping a lid on the population. I also think that the world is not 'ours', or at least it would be a a sad world if it was 'ours'. The population is only at around 4k at present, but spreading around the country quickly as you say.

We have an over population of deer in the UK, we are not allowed to hunt anything unless land owners permission and we have licensed firearms (pop guns compared to the US, mostly rim fire and upto .308, but most use .223 nato here to hunt. 5 shot magazine and single shot bolt action only).

Personally ill hunt fox/rabbits if they are pests with my 17hmr, and leave the larger wildlife to spread. Again, its not just our world

i much prefer competitive target shooting by the way, air rifles.

I target shoot myself with either a Ruger 22 or a Taurus 44 mag ( eight inch barrel talk about a little "kick" ) or my S&W 357 four inch barrel. I could prolly pick off that hawk with the 22 but the other neighbors would here it,and being in town limits I'd loose my carry permit but I am NOT the type of guy to shoot a critter,unless it absolutely necessary!!


Jim

 

[bigfellasdad]

FYI: The British have made a serious error in releasing wild boar. They multiply like rats and it all goes no hill from there.

I sort of agree with you, although poachers seem to be keeping a lid on the population. I also think that the world is not 'ours', or at least it would be a a sad world if it was 'ours'. The population is only at around 4k at present, but spreading around the country quickly as you say.

We have an over population of deer in the UK, we are not allowed to hunt anything unless land owners permission and we have licensed firearms (pop guns compared to the US, mostly rim fire and upto .308, but most use .223 nato here to hunt. 5 shot magazine and single shot bolt action only).

Personally ill hunt fox/rabbits if they are pests with my 17hmr, and leave the larger wildlife to spread. Again, its not just our world

i much prefer competitive target shooting by the way, air rifles.

I target shoot myself with either a Ruger 22 or a Taurus 44 mag ( eight inch barrel talk about a little "kick" ) or my S&W 357 four inch barrel. I could prolly pick off that hawk with the 22 but the other neighbors would here it,and being in town limits I'd loose my carry permit but I am NOT the type of guy to shoot a critter,unless it absolutely necessary!!


Jim

im very much the same Jim, live and let live unless they have out grown the surroundings, control

had a 22 ruger with a foldable stock and nickel barrel, was ok... shot a taurus too, they are LBR here in the uk.....huge things sized so cant be carried, very long barrel and a stock....Police wont let us have them unless we can prove a sporting activity. BTW, moderated .22lr with subs is just a click....

 

[Flboy]

This is a bit close to home for you!
[ame="https://youtu.be/CLrVj2JSZJI"]2 people attacked by hawk outside Connecticut store - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Scott]

This is a bit close to home for you!
2 people attacked by hawk outside Connecticut store - YouTube

Amazingly the hawk let the officer capture without fuss. Hope it is not sick, and if so will be rehabilitated.

 

[SailBoat]

This is a bit close to home for you!
2 people attacked by hawk outside Connecticut store - YouTube

Amazingly the hawk let the officer capture without fuss. Hope it is not sick, and if so will be rehabilitated.

Fully agree, likely ill or hurt! If it was protecting a nest that easy approach and capture would have been very different.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

WOW! Bridgeport is about 25 miles away..now that is scary



Jim