Althouse: "It can get a little gory, watching the parents tear up rabbits and squirrels, but that's nature."

April 27, 2012

"It can get a little gory, watching the parents tear up rabbits and squirrels, but that's nature."

"I just think it's been nice for us to be able to put it out there so a worldwide audience can watch these hawks."

37 comments:

ndspinelli said...: "Critter du jour."; 4/27/12, 4:27 PM
edutcher said...: I remember when the much-ballyhooed "Planet Earth" mini series premiered and all hard core Libertarian Neal Boortz could say was something to the effect that, "Yes, I know it happens, but after a while, you really hate to see the little creatures being ripped to shreds".

After a while, we can only take so much, I guess.

As for the hawks, they'll be smart to stay in the Hoosier State. We already have a small squadron here and The Blonde keeps saying, "They only think they're endangered. If they come near one of the pups, I'm going hunting".; 4/27/12, 4:44 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: I bet it wasn't gory at all when they chopped up the puppies for Obama to eat.; 4/27/12, 5:02 PM
garage mahal said...: Feeding time right now! Small rabbit?; 4/27/12, 5:18 PM
pm317 said...: They had a webcam on a pair of redtail hawks in NY City last season. In fact it built the nest right on the ledge outside the office of the president of the NYU on the 12th floor(I think I have that right). Everybody saw the egg hatch and the little baby hawk grow up and take flight. Watching the mother tear those squirrels and rats up to feed the baby was a daily sight.; 4/27/12, 5:21 PM
ricpic said...: Nature's horrible of course but we've all conspired to deny it...how else are going to get down our NAKED LUNCH?!; 4/27/12, 5:34 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: "I just think it's been nice for us to be able to put it out there so a worldwide audience can watch these hawks."

And watch how Walker has brought in non-union labor.. and from what I can see, a work site riddled with safety hazards.. and to top it off.. they are eating raw meat.. wait until the first lady hears about this.

Thank you Governor Walker.; 4/27/12, 5:59 PM
MadisonMan said...: There is also a website at Cornell showing 3 Redtail hawk chicks. The ones here at UW hatched about a week before the Cornell ones. The difference between the two sites:

Cornell gives their hawks nicknames (ugh). Cornell's site has many links for donations. I prefer the UW way.; 4/27/12, 6:03 PM
Peter Hoh said...: Wasn't able to see this or any other blogger-hosted site earlier today. Things are back to normal now.; 4/27/12, 6:10 PM
Bob said...: These raptor nesting cameras have been popular for a few years now. I've been watching Bald Eagles from the Norfolk Botanical Gardens for several years, and I've we now have them here in Charlotte (NC) and Charleston (SC).; 4/27/12, 6:31 PM
Irene said...: The poodles will not be making any trips to campus soon.; 4/27/12, 7:44 PM
pm317 said...: Well, what do you know! The NYU's redtailed hawks are back, well at least the male Bobby, with a new girlfriend and some baby hawks. His ex Violet from last year died tragically of an infected branded foot. They raised their kid Pip on camera last year and I watched it take flight as it happened. Here is the new family.; 4/27/12, 7:48 PM
glenn said...: Watching a nesting hawk fly a field looking for lunch is something you won't soon forget. The dive when they spot a fieldmouse is really something to see. And BTW for all you squeamish so called adults plants have feelings too. So maybe if you have a problem with the hawks you should quit eating entirely; 4/27/12, 8:12 PM
Aridog said...: You think the hawks are savage? Hah! Catch the cable television show about how some Amish kill their chickens. to wit ... place a metal rod across the neck of the prostrate bird, step on both ends, then yank the body upwards suddenly. Once head is separated, toss the body to the ground for it to run around a few minutes .. headless.

Great entertainment.; 4/27/12, 8:12 PM
MadisonMan said...: Once head is separated, toss the body to the ground for it to run around a few minutes .. headless.

If it runs into something, it can bruise the meat. Not recommended.

Easier method: Put bird in Paper bag with its head sticking out of bag. Grab head and flick your wrist, snapping the neck.; 4/27/12, 8:27 PM
Aridog said...: No argument from me, Madison Man, but I didn't produce and direct that episode.

Me, I'd prefer to have video of the time I had to slaughter a pig at the U of Wisconsin using the Ag Department's facilities and equipment. Much more humane and dang sure more sanitary.; 4/27/12, 8:36 PM
Anonymous said...: @Aridog and MadMan:
The Amish method is much like the one my grandmother used, that I witnessed about 1960 or so. She held the chicken by its legs, laid a steel pipe across its neck, and yanked. And I did get to see the headless bird run around.

Afterwards we got to watch when she cleaned the bird. Saw an egg that was clearly about ready to lay, and another one, much smaller, farther up the chute.

It was a very educational visit.; 4/27/12, 9:05 PM
sonicfrog said...: Oh, that's funny. I clicked on the link to go to the web cam, and a commercial played first. It was a Lowe's commercial... Featuring animated squirrels! This one!!!!; 4/27/12, 9:07 PM
Fritz said...: If you want to see fish torn up, I suggest the "Osprey Cam".

http://www.vims.edu/bayinfo/osprey_cam/index.php; 4/27/12, 9:56 PM
Dante said...: Everything is nature.; 4/27/12, 10:58 PM
Carnifex said...: Here's an idea. TV show, "Where Your Food Comes From". For everyone who has lost touch with their inner agrarian. I am puzzled by leftist squeemishness about nature, and reality, and their constant harping about "noble savages", and how we should all live like the little brown people live. Not realizing those little brown people are little because of malnutrition, and diseases.

I don't have a lot of use for any adult who can't survive less than a day without a supermarket to buy their processed cheese food, or free range chicken.

People need to realize that we live in an unparallelled time of abundance, and it's because of our technology, and farming techniques. This is why people from all these other countries leftist admire so much do everything in their power to come to America. Zero and his ilk would flush that down the toilet without realizing how public sanitation is more than some drug addled 99%er taking a big dook on a police cruiser.; 4/27/12, 10:59 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Oh look.. my comment still up.

I'll go to bed and sound asleep.; 4/27/12, 11:01 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/27/12, 11:13 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: If you get a birdhouse for your kids *cough* to watch the bird activity through a window, should you be so fortunate to attract a nesting pair of birds, a few ideas occur by reading the negative reviews left for them, that may help your success.

* It must be a quiet window that is kept shut. Brief peeks only. Choose a good window that will not mess up the birds, and one that you can keep closed and quiet.

* Do not rely on the suction cups to hold the birdhouse. That's just flat living dangerously and inviting catastrophe. Use the suction cups to stabilize and orient the birdhouse but not to support it.

* If the birds build up the nest and obscure the window and you can't see no nuth'n then they did that on purpose and too bad for you, Boo-Boo. You still have to keep the shades closed closed and stay quiet on the opposite side of the glass through the season.; 4/27/12, 11:16 PM
Penny said...: Pm317, I watched that very same cam last year. I think? Well, I watched a ledge cam in NYC, at least.

And after I caught a few frantic feedings on that ledge, I decided to watch the Drudge cam, and have never looked back!; 4/28/12, 12:15 AM
Penny said...: There's some mighty creepy cam work going on in a city near you.

Seems like the humanoid "hawks" have acquired a taste for their own!; 4/28/12, 12:23 AM
Penny said...: At first all the Drudge "humanoid hawk" cams were on subways, but then they spread to ol' McDonalds, for cripes sake!

That was way too close to the farm for my taste.; 4/28/12, 12:40 AM
Penny said...: I mean, who doesn't like an all beef patty with special sauce?

OK, maybe a few picky eaters. But when they added the blood?

Nuh uh!

That was like Indonesian exotic, so I turned off my Drudge cam.; 4/28/12, 12:49 AM
Penny said...: Until...; 4/28/12, 12:55 AM
Penny said...: Oh I know, I'm ashamed, but frankly, so EASY to get addicted to bloody voyeurism!

And I just HAD to watch the Drudge cam when it was just outside the courthouse in Baltimore.

I thought the humanoid hawks FINALLY got a lawyer!; 4/28/12, 12:58 AM
Penny said...: "And a bloody lawyer, at that!"

Or so I said to myself, in my fake British accent.; 4/28/12, 1:06 AM
Penny said...: Ha ha

They only got a drunken Irishman on St.Patty's Day.; 4/28/12, 1:11 AM
Ralph L said...: Grab head and flick your wrist, snapping the neck.
My grandmother remembered that from her mother's hotel kitchen well into her dotage. But the help would grab the head and swing the chicken's whole body around.

I'm not usually squeamish about nature shows but I can't watch human surgery on TV. I do hate it when a bird jams his beek down another's throat.; 4/28/12, 1:25 AM
Penny said...: Gaols or goals, boys and girls?; 4/28/12, 6:45 AM
Penny said...: Or would you prefer to identify as "hard-working victims"?; 4/28/12, 6:53 AM
AllenS said...: Real men bite the heads off a chicken.; 4/28/12, 7:31 AM
Curious George said...: There was an bald eagle cam a few years ago, same kind of stuff. Pretty cool.

My lake up nort' is a deep water 70 acre lake and because of a "no gas motor" rule for the lest 30 years not only is one of the cleanest in WI (4th) but also very quiet. This is very rare in WI...maybe anywhere.

Because of this, it has become a "go to" source to study loons. Because no jet skis and fast boats the loons stay active all day long, and stay on the lake, and are easily observable. I have actually watched them swimming under my boat in the spring while fishing.

To help the loons we have been putting out a loon nest...basically a 4'x4' floating platform in about 4' of water. This keeps predators like foxes away from the eggs, but the loon parents still have to fight of the birds, primarily bald eagles.

The female lays two eggs, and once one hatches will tend the other for a day or two before giving up. Most years one survives, we have had a few years with two chicks make it the whole season.

The baby loons will cling to mothers back as the swim around the lake...mom will dive if an eagle is present.

Contrary to belief, loons do not mate for life. Female loons often get younger males to breed and then partner with. The female on our lake is on her third male. SLUT!; 4/28/12, 7:53 AM