Wild eagles attack paraglider

Denny · Post by **Denny** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:40 am

CANBERRA, Feb 2 (Reuters Life!) - Britain's top female paraglider has cheated death after being attacked by a pair of "screeching" wild eagles while competition flying in Australia.

story

Cynth · Post by **Cynth** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:19 am

Just one more good reason to stay on the ground.

missy · Post by **missy** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 10:32 am

well, you get cougars and mountain lions attacking people who come into "their" space, why not eagles, too???

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:13 am

If I were an eagle I might have done the same thing.

MarcusR · Post by **MarcusR** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 11:59 am

I was hanggliding in Wollongong a few years back when a friend of mine got too close to an eagles nest. The bird attacked his glider and ripped bits of dacorn and mylar out from his leading edge

He landed a few minutes later, 15 km from the LZ, quite shocked by the whole thing.

I have soared a few times with hawks and eagles with out any disputes. Usually they feel quite safe in the air and can get very, very close, play around and try to stay just a feet above your wing. Had a unforgetable flight over Dallas road, Victoria, BC with an Bald eagle for over an hour.

Spectacular site to fly as you can swoop by the appartments and see what tv show they are watching

Flying is airotic, and should therefore only be tried by adults

/MarcusR

Joseph E. Smith · Post by **Joseph E. Smith** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 1:05 pm

MarcusR wrote:

Flying is airotic, and should therefore only be tried by adults

/MarcusR

Well, that rules me out.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:23 pm

As eagles return in numbers, the human interactions are increasing and quashing some sublime notions about their dignity. They are just birds, albeit glorious ones.

While driving up to Trinity Lake last November, I saw this commotion up ahead and quickly pulled over. A bald eagle was tussling over a dead squirrel with two crows right on the roadway. It was so clumsy and funny that all in the car were laughing at the "noble" bird. In the first place, I think of them more as fishers than varmint chasers, but secondly, I never seem to get that close to 'em, but there it was, right in front of the car.

The raptors are back big time. See 'em all the time. Many many red-tails and red-shouldered hawks at work. Two of the latter were fighting with one larger former the other day at our rooftop. The red-tail was literally spun around on his back while the smaller bird attacked. That really surprised me. Younguns ,I reckon. Also, last spring, I saw five red-shoulders directly overhead flying around and squawking. I think it was the two parents and three youngsters. They are really noisy birds.

dubhlinn · Post by **dubhlinn** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 7:57 pm

The Weekenders wrote:
A bald eagle was tussling over a dead squirrel with two crows right on the roadway. It was so clumsy and funny that all in the car were laughing at the "noble" bird.

If I didn't know better I could see this as a political statement.

Slan,
D.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:08 pm

Yes. "Laughing cars" is an ill-veiled metaphor, Weeks. Have a care.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:29 pm

Man, ya close the rubber room and inmates escape.

Jack · Post by **Jack** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:30 pm

The Weekenders wrote:Man, ya close the rubber room and inmates escape.

They prefer the term "patients."

cowtime · Post by **cowtime** » Sat Feb 03, 2007 9:32 pm

The first, and only, wild bald eagle I ever saw was a couple of years ago on my route. I see red-tails and such all the time.

The route I use to have was thru very rugged country. The road was sometimes just along a ridge top with straight off drops on either side of the road. I more than once had hawks flying literally right along beside my car. (saw lots of wildlife too)

I made these on the route one snowy day-
Goin' up to Sourwood Mountain
[img][img]http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3301/02032007101533pmzy7.th.jpg[/img][/img]

In this one you can see the road I'll be driving on later as I wend my way through Sourwood Mountain(yes the one of old time tune fame) I always said if I went over the hill up there, they wouldn't find me for a week.

[img][img]http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/966/02032007101312pmvt6.th.jpg[/img][/img]

anniemcu · Post by **anniemcu** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 12:14 am

I love my cats. Eagles like to eat cats... hence, I am at odds with the beautiful brutes.

You may recall that I was nursing one of our feline friends through his recovery from an attack at Halloween a couple of years back (he was finally able to be let out of the recoverytreatment cage just about three months later!). We wondered at the time if it mighten't have been a big hawk, as he was *very* skittish of flying shadows for quite a while afterward... turns out we have a growing population of eagles right around our acreage, and given the punctures and drop in the pond, and the shadow fear, we figure now that he was snatched up by an eagle, thinking it a loverly big rabbit, only to find it bigger and heavier, and highly armed.

I love to see them, but I really don't want them this close!

Mitch · Post by **Mitch** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 6:50 am

When I was a kid in a country area west of here, I would see wedge-tail eagles strung up on farmers' fences along with all the dead foxes. Sheep country don't like predators. But since Oz got dissarmed and we started getting a bit ashamed of our extinction record, the wildlife has boomed - there's hardly anything left for the crows! I kinda like seeing how Ibises are so well suited to picking half a big-mac from a city garbage bin.

One other thing that this story reminded me of, was how Currawongs (native raven thingy) would trash my toy aeroplanes in flight - coolest thing to watch.

It's a good thing that the lady in the story did not encounter cockatoos - those thangs can strip a pine tree into sticks in less than an hour - specially the black ones. They do this kind of thing ocaisionally as a joke. Nature's black comedians

missy · Post by **missy** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 7:25 am

we have a pair of hawks that nest in the woods behind our house. We don't see them a lot, but we see the remnants of their hunts up in the trees - especially the occasional rabbit.
Our neighbors have a "yorkiepoo" that they let out in the yard for long periods. I keep telling them that one day "Jasmine" is going to be dinner if they aren't careful.