craziest wildlife encounter

[strike proof]

My son and I were hiking through a central NJ park two Sundays ago, bushwhacking down a tiny stream bed. As we were walking, we heard a hawk screeching above us. It got louder as we approached. When we rounded a bend, we saw a mature looking broadwing hawk on a bare branch above the stream, screeching regularly every few seconds. It was pretty clearly upset by our approach. It crapped, then flew to a tree about twenty feet away, continuing the screeching. My son and I climbed the bank and I pulled out my phone to try to get a picture of the hawk, still pretty close and on another bare branch. As I was pulling up my phone, a big (seriously big) red-tailed hawk came whipping through the trees and clobbered the broadwing. The broadwing tumbled through the air, collected itself before it hit the ground (had started about 30 feet up), and flew to another tree. The sound was amazing -- like a car door slamming. The red-tail flew to a different tree and kept staring in the direction of the broadwing, ignored us, stayed silent the entire time. The broadwing kept screaming. After a couple of minutes, the red-tail flew away, above the trees. The broadwing took off through the forest a few minutes later in another direction.

So, what the hell happened there? I wish I understood the backstory. Did we upset the broadwing, it sounded an alarm or warning call, and it attracted the red-tail? Did it see the red-tail originally, alarm accordingly, and got slammed anyway? Was there some kind of territorial or nest encroachment going on, and we were incidental?

Considering this is a fly-fishing site, I hiked the upper stream on the recommendation of one of the site members looking for trout. I saw a bunch of tiny fish (probably all dace), frogs, newts, crayfish (my first in this area). I did not see any of the brook trout rumored to live there, but I will hike a section further downstream next time. No fishing rods on us until fall, in case anyone is concerned. Not there to assassinate any native brookies.

So, has anyone else had a recent wildlife encounter that left him/her totally confused?

 

[CTobias]

So, has anyone else had a recent wildlife encounter that left him/her totally confused?

I saw a crackhead, with no shoes on, raking a sidewalk with a broken rake during the winter.

 

[Rusty Spinner]

Red tail was probably beating on the smaller hawk for some time before you arrived. Hard to know for certain.

One of my craziest encounters was while woodcock hunting here in NJ a bunch of years ago. A buddy, his nephew and I were following my Brittany when the dog slammed on point. I could see the woodcock which was clearly unhinged by our presence and told the buddy's nephew to get ready to take the shot. Just as he took one step forward toward the bird (that dog was steady to wing and shot), a Cooper's hawk nearly slams into my head as he screams past in an attempt to take out the woodcock. Apparently seeing my dog on point, the hawk pulls up at the last possible moment and lands in a tree 20' away. Dog on point. Hawk in tree. Three hunters moving in. Woodcock flushes, guns go off, hawk flies away, hunters miss woodcock, woodcock lands somewhere safely where he changes his underwear.

 

[lightenup]

Coopers Hawks and Sharp-shinned hawks love fresh blue jay!!!! They are constantly taking them in my woods.....whenever the cacophony of screeches rises to a fever pitch, you can guarantee a Copper's or sharp-shined will be flying through a bluejay.....as far as wildlife encounters..there was that one time at college in Newark, but that is for another time....

 

[Pete]

Not recent, but it seemed amusing at the time.

My first encounter with a NJ Bear was in my back yard.

Our miniature schnauzer (less than 20 lbs), decided to chase it off.
The bear ran like it was being chased by demons....never came near my place again.

 

[flytire]

turkey vultures snacking on a fresh deer kill on the side of the road

rattlesnake floating between me and my fishing buddy on the Big Horn River in Montana

 

[Thursthouse]

rattlesnake floating between me and my fishing buddy on the Big Horn River in Montana

F that! I need more details - I feel like this could be the making of yet another poo story

 

[thrashers.wheat]

Saw a mature mountain lion on the uppermost paved bridge on the NFCDA. I just finished fishing (drinking ice cold beer on) a stretch of the upper river just before it becomes roadless and found quite the surprise once I got my feet on the road from the trail. After what felt like a minute, the big cat turned and trotted away from me to the wooden guard rail beside the road. The cat then placed a paw on the rail, and turned around to look at me before exiting. I can vividly recall the paw perched atop the rail and how big its paw was in relation to a 6 x 10, or so, piece of wood. The cat then made its way over the rail and in to the Idaho backcountry. It did so in complete silence, without rustling a single bush. What a beautiful and frightening creature.

 

[strike proof]

I have heard of rattlesnakes coiling up and floating to survive flood conditions. Hope I never have to see it up close.

 

[strike proof]

<!-- google_ad_section_start -->"Saw a mature mountain lion on the uppermost paved bridge on the NFCDA. I just finished fishing (drinking ice cold beer on) a stretch of the upper river just before it becomes roadless and found quite the surprise once I got my feet on the road from the trail. After what felt like a minute, the big cat turned and trotted away from me to the wooden guard rail beside the road. The cat then placed a paw on the rail, and turned around to look at me before exiting. I can vividly recall the paw perched atop the rail and how big its paw was in relation to a 6 x 10, or so, piece of wood. The cat then made its way over the rail and in to the Idaho backcountry. It did so in complete silence, without rustling a single bush. What a beautiful and frightening creature."<!-- google_ad_section_end -->


That's a great, probably once-in-a-lifetime sighting. I would love to see a mountain lion but hate to have a long walk ahead of me afterward.​

 

[tomfly]

I was on vacation on Sanibel Island with my wife a few years back. I had just released a sea trout; it kind of looks like what we call a weakfish. With in 10 seconds of releasing it, an Osprey swooped down and snatched it.

 

[lightenup]

Taking two casts to a rising fish in the gorge..one refusal, very focused on the fish ten feet in front of me, and WHAM! an Osprey comes swooping out of a tree and whacks the fish I was casting to...bobs in the water for a second...hops up on a rock, looks over it's shoulder at me, kind of mockingly, and begins to eat....

It scared the shit out of me when it hit the water .....

 

[Trout Fever]

hawks are extremely territorial my father and i fly a redtailed hawk and we were in an area where bald eagles were and let me tell you the eagles do not like hawks in there area..

 

[Trouser Trout]

I saw what appeared to be a lowland gorilla running up frelinghuysen ave., in newark, with an umbrella from a sabret cart in the rain at about 7 am yelling "gots a nice umbrella 5 bucks".....

 

[CTobias]

I saw what appeared to be a lowland gorilla running up frelinghuysen ave., in newark, with an umbrella from a sabret cart in the rain at about 7 am yelling "gots a nice umbrella 5 bucks".....

Hahahahaha. That's just wrong.


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