Thread: Who needs a boat to go fishing?

Originally Posted by Grumpy John

This is so cool.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/nA3LtXn...layer_embedded

Very cool . You wouldn't want the female of the Osprey species to get her hooks into you! Just a question: Is the cyclorama finished and how is it you have time for spectaculars like this ?

Regards
Paul

Absolutely Brilliant!!!

Good one GJ

i spent 2 hours in Katherine gorge watching an Osprey "fish". The crack as it latched its claws in was like a rifle shot.

I didn't think that last one with the big fish was going to get airborne but he wasn't letting go.

Yes, I didn't think the bird was going to hang on to that fish either. I also liked the image of the bird that dived down and the way it shook off the water like a dog but in mid flight.

Large birds have a lot of difficulty taking off, and landing too for that matter. Birds like the Condor fall on their face every time they land and along with the eagles prefer to jump off a cliff as a preferred means of taking off. For the Osprey to lift a fish weighing almost as much as itself into the air was particularly impressive.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Yes, I didn't think the bird was going to hang on to that fish either. I also liked the image of the bird that dived down and the way it shook off the water like a dog but in mid flight.

Large birds have a lot of difficulty taking off, and landing too for that matter. Birds like the Condor fall on their face every time they land and along with the eagles prefer to jump off a cliff as a preferred means of taking off. For the Osprey to lift a fish weighing almost as much as itself into the air was particularly impressive.

Regards
Paul

The number of wedgies that get clobbered by roadtrains is staggering. Roadkill is an easy meal for them, but it takes them ages to take of when a fast moving 36 wheeler is barrelling down on them.
PS: the man cave is on hold for a few days while I sort out the missus new camper (leaky roof).

They're slow-moving sods.

In Tibooburra last June the local copper said a truck had just come through with the windscreen shattered by one.

Easy to shoot on 'film' on outback roads when feeding on roadkill though. Magnificent birds.

Originally Posted by

i spent 2 hours in Katherine gorge watching an Osprey "fish". The crack as it latched its claws in was like a rifle shot.

I didn't think that last one with the big fish was going to get airborne but he wasn't letting go.

When your on a good thing, stick to it!

Incredible

As Grumpy has introduced the birds of prey subject and the eagle has been mentioned, I have a story from when we lived in the bush in NSW. My apologies if I have told it on the forum before: I really can't remember. My work colleagues assure me an encore is acceptable but three times is really pushing the envelope.

Anyhow, SWMBO had wacked a roo on the way home after dark. It had happened at a cattle grid where there was a fence with shrubbery either side. The next day I approached the same grid in my old twin cab dyna truck. I had collected the children from the bus stop. As we drew closer it was apparant there were two wedge tail eagles perched on the fence.

They didn't fly off until we were about six metres away. So graceful soaring in the air but clumsy and ungainly taking off as Grumpy said. When we looked closer there was a roo with a broken leg flailing around pathetically in the long grass by the fence. Presumeably the roo SWMBO had hit the night before. The wedgies had litterally been sitting over the top of the animal waiting for it to die. So much for the noble bird of prey. Eagles are scavengers and opportunists as are most predators.

I should have stopped and put the roo out of it's misery, but with the children in the vehicle I didn't want to be the butcher in front of them .

A couple of days later SWMBO mentioned that the children had commented how cruel I was not to have stopped and bashed the roo over the head with a lump of wood . A guess they were bush kids .

Regards
Paul

To add a tale: last time we were in the Flinders Ranges we came across a dead wallaby on the road with Wedgies hovering nearby. A few hours later we came back that way and two huge feral cats were feasting on the roadkill with the eagles perched in a tree waiting for their turn. Moggies 1; eagles nil.

Well known cause of death for Fish Hawks/Eagles in Sydney is grabbing a fish that is too big for them. Seems they can't get their claws out unless they are on a solid surface, they are locked on until they reach dry land or drown.