Chilling outside basoms window right now, chugging a pigeon

[basom]

is a wicked sweet red tail hawk.

homie is five feet from my face, in a tree, just tearing this pigeon to shreads. i've been watching it for about half an hour. it seemed pretty cool with me, so i opened up the window and the screen to document the feast.

http://www.angrywhelk.com/shinjuku/thelonious/redtail1.jpg

http://www.angrywhelk.com/shinjuku/thelonious/redtail2.jpg

home boy is now done with brekfast, doing a little feather maintenance, and generaly chilling the fuck out.

i named it Thelonious. although i don't know how to tell if buddy is a lady or a man hawk.

anyways, pretty bird eh?

[mildbill.]

theo has redeye in the second photo.

[basom]

i think he's baked. thats why i named him thelonious, he likes a good toke like his namesake.

[iceman]

Nice, I bet there aren't a lot of pictures that have both a redtail hawk and the Tobin bridge in them.

[gonzo]

yuh. tobin is lookin good for this time of day.

[snowsprite]

Awesome! Nice close-up shot. That's one fierce lookin' bird.

Sprite

[mildbill.]

i think he's baked. thats why i named him thelonious, he likes a good toke like his namesake.

projecting a little bit here, are we?

[bad_roo]

You reckon he'd like a Jumbo Jack?

Those pics are quality.

[basom]

little known factoid: Charelstown in Wampanoag translates too: land teaming with red tail hawks. true story.

edit: Gonz, i asked thelonious if he wanted to buy your router when i opened the window. i specificly mentioned how it could be usefull for his nest construction. he's gooing to think it over, i gave him your email.

[Keoni]

"What the fuck are you lookin at?"
http://www.angrywhelk.com/shinjuku/redtail1.jpg
"You're next...bitch!"

[VTskibum]

edit: Gonz, i asked thelonious if he wanted to buy your router when i opened the window. i specificly mentioned how it could be usefull for his nest construction. he's gooing to think it over, i gave him your email.

but does he have your Halo 2 copy to join vinz, stump832 and I

[iceman]

little known factoid: Charelstown in Wampanoag translates too: land teaming with red tail hawks. true story.

edit: Gonz, i asked thelonious if he wanted to buy your router when i opened the window. i specificly mentioned how it could be usefull for his nest construction. he's gooing to think it over, i gave him your email.

Another little known factoid: Hawks are master capenters. In fact Norm from Yankee workshop is a hawk in disguise.

[basom]

but does he have your Halo 2 copy to join vinz, stump832 and I

hmmmmm.

hold on i'll ask.

nope, he doesn't have it on him today.
he also reminded me that i only have dialup at home, and am too busy in the evenings with my stripping schedual to set up DSL at the moment. which was good, because i had forgotten about my gig tonight.

[Keoni]

Another little known factoid: Hawks are master capenters. In fact Norm from Yankee workshop is a hawk in disguise.

I'm still trying to figure out who irritates me more, Norm or Bob Villa?

[Viva]

Yo, Basom. You need to throw some bread crumbs around your neighborhood to attract more pigeons.

[INDY GS]

Sweet pics, I have been seeing a lot of Red Tails lately, but none that close up.

From the title of the thread I thought that you were sitting outside your window chugging a pigeon. :eek: Was a bit concerned, then I opened the thread.

Once again. sweet pics, my wife will get a kick out of them.

[basom]

i honestly don't know if we could possibly have more pigeons around our shop. its like god damn Trafalgar Square. Thelonious won't be going hungry any time soon, thats for damn sure.

[vinzclortho]

is that pic taken at work?

you definitely need to start feeding the pigeons around Chucktown and take more pictures of the gnar when the hawk chows them. I mean there is a colony of hundreds of them at Sullivan Square, should be easy enough. I guess then of course you can't alert your homies that the po-po or a rival gang are in your barrio by flipping pigeons cuz they'll all be dead, but you could fight them off with gonzo's router.

[iceman]

I'm still trying to figure out who irritates me more, Norm or Bob Villa?

Well it's close, but you gotta go with Bob on that one, at least Norm knows what he's squawking...errr, talking about.

[basom]

yeah, bob got fired from this old house because he is owned and operated by sears. plus, he's not a red tail hawk.

[Below Zero]

Sweet pic. What a sight to see! :biggrin:

[Aldo]

Since he is obviously puffed up, he's going to need a little bird of prey daybed to rack out on. Maybe you could whip something up for him?

[basom]

http://www.angrywhelk.com/shinjuku/thelonious/Thelonious%20rips.jpg

[iceman]

^^^^^

Not Bob Vila.

[Lane Meyer]

Some of you older folks may remember this story from "Unsmart things done v.1.0" (which should be found and bumped, by the way).

If anyone here went to Colorado College between 1996-2000, you may remember several biology students who were falconers. Well, those were my roommates. So at any one time, living in my house were a Red tailed hawk, a Goshawk, a Harris hawk, and your occasional Peregrine falcon. Every few days, we'd drive out to the plains to the east of Colorado Springs and hunt jackrabbits to feed the hawks. We wouldn't hunt them with guns or traps, we'd hunt them with the birds. This was quite often extremely entertaining. Especially the one time we went "drive-by hawking." This entailed me driving my one roommate's truck, with him sitting shotgun with the Harris hawk on his right fist, hooded. We'd drive around the suburbs of CS until we found a bunch of crows chilling out in a tree or on a lawn. Then, I'd creep up real slow-like, he'd roll down the window, slowly extend his arm, and pull the hood off and release her jesses, throwing her towards the crows.

My favorite hunt happened to take place at the playground of the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind. We pulled alongside the playground, taking in the idyllic scene of a class of young kids enjoying their recess outside, with many of them running laps around the track with one hand on the railing. In the middle of the track was a large, bare cottonwood, with at least 15 crows hanging out in it's branches. As we came to a stop, what happened next can only be described as a cross between the last scenes of Star Wars as the Death Star meets its untimely end and the best parts of Iron Eagle. (Cappyyyy!) Off tears the hawk right at the crows, who immediately take flight, bleating for their lives, swooping and diving like a doomed squadron of Luftwaffe over Berlin in 1942.

The kids, being unable to see or in some cases hear the source of the chaos unfolding in the air above them, began to scatter, as the hawk zeroed in on the slowest bird of the bunch. Making impact with voracious tenacity, the two birds tumbled to the ground and the feast began. As the last breaths of life were wrested from the crow, it released its ungodly death rattles, drowned out only by the piercing cry of the hawk and the terrified shrieks of the children. Over runs my roommate, grabs them both, hoods his bird, and wrests the shredded carcass of the unfortunate crow from the raptor's clutches. I gunned it just as the instructor was running towards us boasting a stern look of consternation. Angling the truck so as to make the license plates unreadable, I peeled out into the dusk.

The picture Basom posted is so familiar it chills my blood. In extremely cold days, the birds would move into our living room, and the favorite perch of the red tail was the top of my favorite lazy boy in our living room. So those eyes, those beady yellow eyes, would follow me intently as I traipsed ever so quietly through the living room en route to the kitchen. One couldn't retrieve a pint of Ben and Jerry's from the freezer in our kitchen without moving aside the hordes of dead furry rabbits and squirrels stored in the door and on the shelves. Ahh...memories.

[Keoni]

Well it's close, but you gotta go with Bob on that one, at least Norm knows what he's squawking...errr, talking about.
Yea, but Norm thinks that everyone watching has a lathe, bench planer, biscuit joiner, drill press, band saw, 10,000 different types of router bits and of course a dove tail jig. Sheeesh. And his accent.....fuuuuuck

He does sport the grunge plaid though

[bad_roo]

Every few days, we'd drive out to the plains to the east of Colorado Springs and hunt jackrabbits to feed the haws.

They must have been damn hungry haws.

[basom]

And his accent.....fuuuuuck


the show is named Yankee Workshop, what do you expect?


nice story lane. i think i would be on edge all the time if thelonious was eyeing me all night.

[Keoni]

the show is named Yankee Workshop, what do you expect?


A-rod and Jeter carving bats?

[basom]

touche... .

[tuffy109]

shit, it's fall already?

[Big E]

Damn, Thelonius is looking good there. My folks have had a hawk family nesting in one of their (or a neighbor's) trees for like the last 3 years now. Really cut down on the squirrel and rabbit population, I can say that. One time while mowing the lawn, my dad saw the basically drop out of the top of the tree (~100' oak), go straight down, wings pinned at its side, and then pull up about 5 or 10 feet before the ground, pluck a snake from the grass, and return to its nest. That's gotta be really fun, hawks must just love that.

On the other hand, I suggested my dad start wearing my Giro while mowing the lawn.

[Tippster]

... One time while mowing the lawn, my dad saw the basically drop out of the top of the tree (~100' oak), go straight down, wings pinned at its side, and then pull up about 5 or 10 feet before the ground, pluck a snake from the grass, and return to its nest. That's gotta be really fun, hawks must just love that.

On the other hand, I suggested my dad start wearing my Giro while mowing the lawn.
Note to Self: If ever visiting Big E's Dad's house - leave snake headdress in car.

Addendum: Any small woodland creature headdress would be inadvisable as well.

[Vinman]

Basom, nice pics.

Last college I worked at around Albany, NY, we had a red-tailed hawk that hung around the athletic fields. I would go out i the afternoons and he would be perched on top of one of the soccer goals or scoreboard and occasionally in some of the trees.

One day while sitting in the golf cart working a softball game I noticed him sitting in the stand of tree behing the first base line, maybe 25 yards from the field. All of the sudden he takes off, gains a little altitude and then proceeds to dive at the girl playing first base!!! He pulled up maybe 10 feet from her head. The girl, seeing this huge bird out of the corner of her eye diving at her, hit the deck as fast as I have ever seen, covering her head with her glove and arm while letting out a window rattling scream of terror. The whole game just sort of stopped while this was going on. very amuzing to watch. Although I'm not sure I would have acted any differently having a 20-30 lb raptor diving at me.

One other time I got to watch him make a kill. No softball players this time. He was perched on the scoreboard while a lax game was going on. And everyone is just kind of watching the hawk and not the game since we were getting spanked as usual. Again very suddenly and very powerfully takes off. This time flying on a strait line about 10-12 feet above the game for the whole length of the lax field and maybe another 75-100 yds picking up speed the whole way. At the last second you could see a squirrel make an unsuccessful run for it as the hawk hammers into the rodent talons first. After that he just kind of stood there on top of it until he was sure it was dead and then flew off with it.

[gonzo]

Yea, but Norm thinks that everyone watching has a lathe, bench planer, biscuit joiner, drill press, band saw, 10,000 different types of router bits and of course a dove tail jig. Sheeesh.

You could have a router and 4 bits when you watch. PM me. Thelonious has dibs though, since he is a bad motherfucker.

My dad used to run every morning at 5:00 am-ish in the burbs where i grew up. on one long deserted stretch with canopy trees he would get dive-bombed by owls pretty regularly. he's bald and has a shiney head. they would come at him dead on, but they're silent and have pretty sick camo, so he wouldn't be able to pick them out until they were wicked close. then he would hit the deck. pretty funny picturing my bald dad chugging along by himself and getting bombed by owls. :D he got a kick out of it though. unfortunately, he already has a router.

[EPSkis]

I say start training him.

It's easy!

Next time he roosts up there, simply grab a pack of Oscar Mayer & dangle a piece out of your mouth. He'll instictively hop over & pluck it gently out of your maw.

Repeat.

Hang a piece of salami or bologna off your ear next. Careful not to tuck it INTO your ear, just dangle it over the top.

Bridge of your nose, etc., etc.

In NO time, he'll be eating right out of your hand - but you want to work up to that.

[basom]

hmm. i was going more the route of trying to ge Thelonious to regurgitate pigeon directly into my mouth.

that would make an awsome party trick.

[basom]

http://www.angrywhelk.com/shinjuku/thelonious/REGURGITATE.jpg

[Keoni]

hmm. i was going more the route of trying to ge Thelonious to regurgitate pigeon directly into my mouth.

that would make an awsome party trick.
And a cool new stunt for Fear Factor.


and Gonzo, thanx, but I have a router. I could use a Tig or a Plasma cutter though...I've been watching too much Monster Garage

[EPSkis]

....testing, testing...

edit: ironically, I don't need to change the pic sig!

[iceman]

http://www.angrywhelk.com/shinjuku/REGURGITATE.jpg

That's fuking funny.

(the image properties are pretty funny too)

[bigsugar]

I laughed for about a minute after seeing that ^^. :yourock:

[basom]

I'm at the apple store at cambrigeeside right now. just put thelonious up as the desk top on all the G5's on display. bwa.

gotta run before they look over here,


see ya.

http://www.angrywhelk.com/shinjuku/thelonious/REGURGITATE.jpg

[Keoni]

That's fuking funny.

(the image properties are pretty funny too)
www.angrywhelk.com/shinjuku/REGURGITATE.jpg
Hawk bukkake?

[PaSucks]

I wonder if Thelonious knows Ill Eagle. You should ask him.

[Cornholio]

Why? Does he need a router?

[basom]

Just saw Thelonious again.

he mentioned that Ill eagle had asked to borrow his router, but Thelonious, who has much more steady talons as he does not duffer from the motion sickness as much as Ill, suggested Illy just provide him with a good template of the counter top and Thelonious will just do the routing for him. He's a good bird.

[13]

When my parents first split, my dad moved in with some family friends, Dave, Sue, and their two dogs, Sam & Snicker. Anyhow, the house they lived in was somewhat of an architectural oddity -- a flat roof (WTF?) and windows everywhere, including 2 windows set in the corner of the house facing the woods and adjoining field. One afternoon, Sue for some reason decided to put a fake tree in the corner with the windows, where it was plainly visible from outside.

As time went on, Dave and my dad began to notice every so often they would hear a thump coming from the direction of that corner while watching TV. Being engineer, his first instinct was to solve the problem. After a half an hour of checking everything they could think of, they concluded that the two dogs were causing the noise when their wagging tails bumped the windows.

They stepped outside to join me on the deck and smoke some reds, satisfied that their engineer brains had saved the world yet again. Just as my dad lifted a match to his cig, a robin dove out of the trees and tracked right into the window and impacted. The robin hit the ground, followed by dad's cigarette, and both of them cracking up.

Instead of telling Sue to move the tree or put tape on the window, they tallied bird-window strikes by notching lines on the deck railing. :rolleyes:

When Sue finally realized that the tree in front of the windows was causing the bird strikes, she moved it to a different corner of the room, and put the dogs' toys in the corner instead. That put a stop to the robin strikes.

Buuuuutttttt. Did I mention the dogs were small dogs?

That's when the hawks started nailing the window. Pure comedy, that was. :FIREdevil

[bigsugar]

Buuuuutttttt. Did I mention the dogs were small dogs?

That's when the hawks started nailing the window. Pure comedy, that was. :FIREdevil


I don't know Thelonious personally, but I don't think he'd like that story very much. :nonono2:

[Yeti]

Because it's been a while.

http://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m204/Todd_ME/2008%20August/IMG_1690.jpg

[angelinalove]

Nice Pics.. Its a great view.

[BeanDip4All]

We saw Theolonius or his brethen in Central Park, also eating a pigeon:

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t61/BeanDip4All/IMG_1377.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t61/BeanDip4All/IMG_1379.jpg

[skiwa]

bird stoke roolz

[IskiOK]

hahahaha caught red handed french boy

[pointedem]

I just got a great laugh. thanks.

[basom]

I made the hall of fame!