Oh my God a hawk just ripped up a pigeon right in front of me and totally just sat there eating it

Hypothetical conversation between the hawk and its prey, both of which were descended from dinosaurs at (in rough numbers) the same time.

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Something similar happened when I was visiting my parents outside of Boston once upon a time. A hawk caught a pigeon and brought it to their back deck. It tore it into little tiny pieces while eating it and sending blood all over the snow covered potted plants. It never rose above freezing for several weeks. The blood stayed on the plants and deck for more than a month. It was like a scene from a horror movie.

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Go Hawks!

mm mm gonna eat some pigeon pah!

If it was alive, then it wasn’t lazy.

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This last summer I saw a hawk (unsure of the species; rather large) trying to catch a pigeon under an overpass. The hawk was definitely out of its element, there. It could barely stay airborne as it twisted and turned, trying to close in on the much more nimble pigeon.

for peregrine falcons, you have to yell faster

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All I know is I was knee-deep in fucking pigeons. Back when I was a lad, we had something called a work-ethic!

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(and @bensonbot)

Pigeons, as much as I hate having to live next to them, are pretty remarkable animals: they’ve basically evolved as the prey animal of the fastest animal on earth, so they’re pretty much 80% chest muscle. That may be why they don’t seem to have any space left over for brain (ever seen a pigeon nest?)

They also have brilliant vision: with four primary colors.

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The tenants of the (former) WaMu tower in Seattle are often front row to the resident peregrines’ breakfast, as well.

Groddy too the max. Gag me with a spoon. I was like totally what evare.

A hawk did that with a mouse in a pine tree right outside my window in a pine tree during a snow storm, so I got to watch from about 3 feet.

One day while hunting, we found a circle of red feathers in the snow.where a hawk had plucked a cardinal

This happens frequently around our house. We feed a lot of birds (hundreds daily) and there are red tail and cooper’s hawks that hang around.

Every week or so we’ll find what we call a “bird explosion” - a bunch of feathers in about a 2 foot area, usually with a few remains inside the circle.

I’ve watched them tear snakes into strips and gobble them down too.

I slowed mine down Hawk eating starling

Only thing to add is that when this happened outside my office building, the hawk flew to the top of a telephone pole in the center of the parking lot. Word spread around work and virtually everyone in the building (close to 200 people) watched it for quite a while.

I also saw a black vulture ripping something up in the lawn across the street from me. The vulture was huge and was quite unconcerned that it might be interrupted by any other animal!

You can get some advance warning of a Cooper’s coming through with bird language (what native people’s have used forever) as explained in “What the Robin Knows”. (Or any other predator, whether ground based or air.)

When your kitchen windows are closed I don’t think you can get any advance warning.

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