Hatchlings foil bid to remove divebombing hawk from Florida tree



CNN) -- Dud Gordon just can't seem to beat those birds. The Melbourne, Florida, resident thought he was going to be relieved Friday of a red-shouldered hawk that had been divebombing him and his neighbors while protecting a brood of eggs in a tree in Gordon's yard.
"It's not gonna happen today. With any luck, tomorrow," a rueful Gordon said Saturday.
James Dean, the AAA Wildlife Removal trapper Gordon hired to remove the eggs, couldn't make it Friday, and the equation changed overnight.
"Last night those eggs hatched, so new ball game now," Gordon said.
"I had figured they would be hatching soon due to the behavior of the mother," Dean said, based on Gordon's descriptions.
The original plan was to scare off the adult birds with pyrotechnics, grab the eggs and take them to the Brevard County Zoo to be incubated. Now Dean says he hopes to catch the parents in nets and have them relocated, while handing the chicks over to the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey in Maitland, Florida.
Audubon Society representatives could not be reached for comment.
James said he would remove the nest from the tree and donate it to the zoo for an educational exhibit.
The overly protective male hawk has sunk its talons into Gordon's scalp three times and has attacked his neighbors, as well. On Saturday morning while Gordon, Dean and a neighbor were standing on the lawn contemplating their next move, the bird landed just 15 feet from them, Gordon said.
"That guy is brazen, just absolutely brazen," Gordon, a retired Army brigadier general, said.
There's something about birds and military officers in Florida. Dean said two years ago he had to get rid of vultures that were harassing military brass trying to enter a Northrop Grumman Aerospace facility in Melbourne, 25 miles south of Cape Canaveral.
He didn't say whether any of the officers were full-bird colonels.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/04/02/florida.hawk.folo/index.html?hpt=T2

I'm no tree hugger or PETA member but if this was me I would have got my steel pot out from my military days and put on a military bearing. Just to have a hawk nesting in the yard would have been pretty cool and I love the sounds they make.

Also I have to question if General Dud is really a dud. I mean after one talon in the scalp don't you think he would put something on his bald shining head to protect it before getting nailed two more times? Do you think this general has ever seen combat?

Thoughts?

I wouldn't mind having the birds nest around my place. Less little 4 footed vermin around, and if they take a liking to starlings and house sparrows, I'd tell them to bring their relatives too!

I have a different outlook. I would have shot the damn thing with a bb gun and told it to go elsewhere. If it didn't get the message, I would have upped the ante and ended my problem. Yeah, I know they are a protected species and it was just doing what comes naturally.

I like rattlesnakes. However, if they are around the house, barns or ponds, I eliminate my problem.

I'm not really that hard hearted. I personally don't want to kill anything on my land that I'm not going to eat. I have had friends want to go to my place and do some shooting. I tell them that if they shoot a sparrow, they had better start picking feathers and building a fire.

Don't even ask me about stray dogs during hunting season.

I agree wholeheartedly on the sounds that hawks make, Cecil - I absolutely love that. It was cool fishing yesterday afternoon with my two youngest because we could hear a hawk doing its screech-thing for probably half an hour. Very cool. And I'd much rather have them than geese!

Todd,

I have one in the area apparently as I found a pile of robin feathers the other day. Nothing else, just feathers. I heard one on and off last year. Coolest sounds I've ever heard.

Hey Dave you don't have to defend your opinion. I understand. It would just be tough to shoot at it in a suburban neighborhood where everyone is watching.

I just find odd the guy gets nailed three times and still doesn't have the sense to at least cover his head until something gets done.

After our feral hog discussion a few years ago, I learned to never ask you for details on such matters....

What about their idiot owners that allow them to run free, or don't neuter a dog if they don't want puppies? That's who I really have a problem with.

I had a family across the highway a few houses down. They live within 30 feet of the highway and either didn't have the sense to tie the dog up or they're too lazy to walk the dog. I would have been terrified the dog would get hit by a car.

The dog keeps coming over to my house and I keep taking it back. One day they leave for Mexico for two weeks around Christmas. They expect the dog to fend for himself, never mind his water bowl will freeze solid. I get tired of him coming over to my place so I buy a chain, tie him up to their porch, give him food and fresh water every day for two weeks. Of course I have to break ice in his bowl too. Never got so much as a thank you.

They had no business having one dog let alone two. One either ran off permanently or got hit on the highway. Thank God they moved. Local animal control refused to do anything btw.

Kelly, I still appreciate your advice that may have kept me from doing Federal time.

This story reminds me of a news item from a couple of years ago. A Mockingbird had built a nest in a tree near the front door of a Dallas Elementary school. The bird was dive bombing, attacking and pecking small children. The nice young female reporter said that nobody knew what to do.

I don't care if it is the State Bird of Texas. I don't care if it is one of the zillion protected species of birds. Children are a lot more important that Mockingbirds.

I could have told them.

Get a can of Hawk-Be-Gone at Tractor Supply.....

But a retired Brigadier General is not a child.

We had a large Red Tail Hawk nesting on our land. When we had that section of land selectively timbered, the nesting tree was totally off limits as was any tree that might fall against it if cut down.

It was awesome to sit under a massive Walnut tree in the afternoon and have the hawk glide in low and slow to check us out and say hello with a screech. It would never turn away till it was about 15-20 feet away. It was a very cool sight that became the weekend routine when we went there.

Agreed Cecil but if any animal keeps attacking me or even causing problems for me, I'm going to do something about it. And, like others, I really, really, like raptors.

Agree 100%, if I had something in my hand the first time he'd never of touched me and for sure the second time.

I used to be that way Bossone but I've softened up in my old age. I only kill at last resort and it seems there's always another way. After all we are supposed to be the smarter species aren't we -- even though we build in flood plains or fire zones and then complain when things happen? Some of us obliterate natural habitat and we're furious if the animals don't leave.

Yeah Cecil, it seems as we get older we have more tolerance, helps keep the blood pressure down and avoid a heart attack.

Well I wasn't necessarily taking bout killing him, but I'd took a swat at him with broom if he was attacking me. Now if I was in his environment I'd stayed away. But if he is near my house and is attacking then you have to do something and killing would be of last resort.

Tolerance? That is the first thing that had to go when I started testing for my Curmudgeon license.

Yeah that's it. I knew there was a reason. I also like the quote, "Don't sweat the small stuff." Many times what we think is a big deal really isn't.

Sorry didn't mean to sound judgmental.

Dave you're live longer if you just go with the flow.

Dave I am with you on this one. Safety first. ... man hit and killed by car while trying to save a squirrel in traffic. Smarter didn't save the guy when his heart was bigger than his brain.

The rattlesnakes and I have an understanding. They do their curmudgeoning in the woods and pastures. I do mine around the house and ponds. We both go with the flow and try to avoid each other.

Every now and then, one of them makes an error in judgment.

Copperheads and I have never been able to work out any kind of arrangement on where they need to stay. Maybe they just get lonely.

You're just no fun Eric!