Things you don't see every day

[D_W]

I stepped upstairs from my remote work office to look around for wife and kids (they're gone, who knows where).

I looked out the window, and a young girl who lives next door was zooming down the road on a skateboard holding a cat that she carries around all the time like a doll. She's not a "skater", but apparently little tiny mini skateboards are a thing (my daughter has one) for girls.

there are three things I've never seen (though I'm used to seeing this cat carried around like it's already dead):
* a cat that doesn't care if a little girl picks it up like a pack of meat by any appendage - the cats we had as a kid would scratch you to ribbons if you tried that
* A girl or boy or anyone zipping down the road holding a cat while riding a skateboard
* a girl who has fallen off of a skateboard and pancaked the cat she was carrying

Hopefully, I won't see the third.

 

[Droogs]

Don't worry, if she is carrying the cat, she will always land on her feet lol

 

[Jameshow]

Went out for a run between 5-6pm tonight and saw a barn owl gracefully swooping over the moor some 50m away - wonderful.

Cheers James

 

[thetyreman]

Went out for a run between 5-6pm tonight and saw a barn owl gracefully swooping over the moor some 50m away - wonderful.

Cheers James

I once saw that and it was incredible experience, they are so majestic and silent, probably my favourite birds, it's worth going back, the one near me I've seen a few times now.

 

[Fred48]

I built a bird box a few years ago and it was getting well used. Last year, for the first time ever, I saw one bird fledge. It was like a ball of fluff. That experience still brings a smile

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I once saw that and it was incredible experience, they are so majestic and silent, probably my favourite birds, it's worth going back, the one near me I've seen a few times now.

We get to see a barn owl hunting in the scrub at the bottom of the garden a few times a year - every time it is a thrill and a privilege to see such a beautiful creature "at work". A couple of weeks ago I found half a barn owl in the long grass - the opposite emotions were surprisingly powerful.
Caught three mice in the same mousetrap yesterday, does that count?

 

[Just4Fun]

I saw a stoat in the garden the other day. Only the second time I have ever seen one. Its fur was exactly the same colour as the snow and I would not have noticed it at all if it had not moved.

 

[D_W]

I saw a stoat in the garden the other day. Only the second time I have ever seen one. Its fur was exactly the same colour as the snow and I would not have noticed it at all if it had not moved.

Dad called me two weeks ago and told me that he saw a mink running and notice that his fish pond (a large goldfish pond with large goldfish) was getting more sparsely populated. At first, that was a relief (it was overpopulated), but it had gone down from about 300 goldfish to 40, and eventually he'd have to trap it.

We have muskrats, but I've never seen a mink. Sure enough, he caught the mink in a live trap, and for now, the fish kill has stopped. Not sure if we have stoats in the US, but they look almost identical - and are probably efficient high volume killers like mink.

Mink have no nerves. When they're trapped, they don't panic or anything, they just sit there. Just confident and patient.

Dad's brother wanted the mink to skin (don't ask, this brother of his thinks everything should be skinned just to have the fur - in some cases, he does sell pelts that he traps), but mom said something about john wayne bobbit and "release the mink in a creek", so that was the result.

 

[D_W]

Don't worry, if she is carrying the cat, she will always land on her feet lol

Had that thought yesterday -if she puts her arms out and falls forward, she'll probably abrade her face and the cat will land safely and be prancing around while she's scraping herself off the road.

 

[D_W]

Went out for a run between 5-6pm tonight and saw a barn owl gracefully swooping over the moor some 50m away - wonderful.

Cheers James

Dad lives in the woods in a rural area (I live 4 hours away in the burbs). At one point, I was visiting, and we've heard the owls there but never seen them. We were walking around the edge of the woods and below an area where we suspected the owls may be nesting, there was a red tailed hawk (not a small bird) on the ground decapitated. I'm guessing he got caught raiding a nest.

 

[D_W]

Separate big bird story that almost caused pants changing...


do you have turkeys in the UK? We obviously grow fat modified types here in the US, but there are also a lot of wild turkeys. You rarely see them fly (to the point that I didn't know that they could fly).

Walking at the edge of dad's woods back a trail where I used to ride an ATV, we were coming back toward the house at near dark, and an enormous group of black flashes flew right over our heads. Not like 20 feet over, but like 5 over, and I don't think it was that dark, but the commotion was disorienting. After checking our pants, we realized that it was a group of turkeys hopping out to the edge of the trail right in front of us and lifting off to head up into some pine trees to roost for the night. I don't think I've ever seen a turkey fly other than that.

They're heavy and when they fly, it's absurdly loud (whooshing and flailing around) and turbulent.

 

[D_W]

(it just occurred to me that youtube will provide 20 versions of things you will rarely or never see in life).



The noise level in this video doesn't do the commotion justice, especially if it's in marginal light and they're flying toward you.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

I have too many (12) turkeys at the moment. They roost on polytunnel bars, which is very safe for them, but annoying for me because it means I can't use it as as a poly tunnel. They fly up up at night as a per the video, but mornings are more exciting, when they crash land from on high. Turkeys seem to use the same flying tactics as bumblebees - fly in a straight line, and turn by crashing in to things. How they survive as a species is anyone's guess.

 

[Just4Fun]

They're heavy and when they fly, it's absurdly loud (whooshing and flailing around) and turbulent.

Last year I went out of the house and there was an immediate commotion that gave me quite a shock. It was a stork that had been just outside. That is another large bird and very noisy as it took off and fled when I opened the door. Funny in retrospect but that wasn't my initial reaction.

 

[JAW911]

My son is a vet student (4th year) and loves watching owls. One night we had friends round for dinner (so over a year ago!) and he said we should come outside....he was playing a tawny owl recording from his phone over a Bluetooth speaker in the garden. Within minutes there were two adult Tawnies and a youngster in our garden trying to work out where the imposter was! Amazing! They kept flying off their perches and swooping over the lawn and back again! Our friends still tell people about it! Try it...

 

[croft36]

We get to see a barn owl hunting in the scrub at the bottom of the garden a few times a year - every time it is a thrill and a privilege to see such a beautiful creature "at work". A couple of weeks ago I found half a barn owl in the long grass - the opposite emotions were surprisingly powerful.
Caught three mice in the same mousetrap yesterday, does that count?

Hope they weren’t field mice!?

 

[Ozi]

We get the odd heron here, they clean out my gold fish but as the fish spawn every year either they eat there fry or the heron eats them and the fry survive, I add the odd replacement every few years to keep the genetics viable and there is one wise old fish that has made it through about ten years no idea why that one survives.

More years ago than I care to work out I spent a year in New Zealand cycling and doing casual work mostly on farms. One morning very early I was free wheeling down a switchback mountain road (life doesn't get much better than that) and heard a very quiet whistle, there was a bird just behind me. They have a hawk, I'm told it's the largest one on earth don't know what they are really called just know then as tourist eagles. It swerved around me and flew just in front of my handle bars so close I could have touched it's tail then shot forward and took a possum off the bank ahead. It must have been using me to disguise it's shape. Wish I could have filmed it, I could see feathers fluttering on the point of stall as it curved it's wings trying to fly as slowly as I was riding. One of many memories of a fantastic country, wish I could have stayed, if you ever get the chance go.

 

[woodhutt]

More years ago than I care to work out I spent a year in New Zealand cycling and doing casual work mostly on farms. One morning very early I was free wheeling down a switchback mountain road (life doesn't get much better than that) and heard a very quiet whistle, there was a bird just behind me. They have a hawk, I'm told it's the largest one on earth don't know what they are really called just know then as tourist eagles. It swerved around me and flew just in front of my handle bars so close I could have touched it's tail then shot forward and took a possum off the bank ahead. It must have been using me to disguise it's shape. Wish I could have filmed it, I could see feathers fluttering on the point of stall as it curved it's wings trying to fly as slowly as I was riding. One of many memories of a fantastic country, wish I could have stayed, if you ever get the chance go.

Australasian Harrier.

 

[OldWood]

Having visited NZ for a short time I share Ozi's enthusiasm. I was trying to remember the source of this story and then remembered a BnB host and a book he had. Seemingly there really was a giant eagle in NZ up till the 1800's (?). Seemingly sometime after after they went extinct (due sadly to homo sapiens(? to the 'wise' part), the site of a nest was found including the skeleton of a small child - maybe urban myth but what they know of this bird did seem to indicate the capacity to do this.

 

[Jameshow]

What size are swamp harriers?

Golden eagle sized or buzzard sized???

Cheers James