kazoospec
kazoospec UberDork
12/30/20 2:20 p.m.

A about a week ago, I walked out of work to get buzzed by this guy.  He appeared completely unafraid of me and was flying out about 10 feet off from the ground.  He perched on one of the light poles in the parking lot.  I was able to walk all the way up to the base of the pole without him flying off.  He was looking me over as if deciding whether he could eat me or not.  He appeared to decide I wasn't worth the trouble.  I was able to get only a semi-crappy cell phone pic of him.

I'm off work this week and was eating lunch with the fam when my wife said, "There's a hawk in the back yard".  This was in the tree, probably about 20-30 feet from my back door.  About 90% sure it's the same bird.

For what it's worth, work and home are about 6-7 miles apart. 

Yes. We had a pheasant track my wife's yellow Focus and my green Wrangler. Every time we were on the block the pheasant was there to bitch at us about something. Apparently he went after the neighbor on his yellow riding tractor enough that the neighbor decided to re-home him. I miss that bird.

Scotty Con Queso
Scotty Con Queso SuperDork
12/30/20 2:40 p.m.

I'd be very afraid if I were you. 

Antihero (Forum Supporter)
Antihero (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
12/30/20 2:42 p.m.

I mean.....emu's are dicks and I was followed around by one for awhile but otherwise....

spitfirebill
spitfirebill MegaDork
12/30/20 3:14 p.m.

My former supervisor was buzzed by an owl once.  One of his friends said the owl must have thought his hair (salt and pepper) looked like the soft underbelly of a possum.  

TurnerX19
TurnerX19 SuperDork
12/30/20 3:22 p.m.

I was flagging at a Pocono long track event that shut down for fog. Couldn't see the track surface from my station on the Long Pond straight. Or the fence behind me. When the fog started lifting I saw 3 big turkey vultures on the top of the fence eyeing me, waiting for me to die.....They stayed until the cars started running again.

TheRyGuy
TheRyGuy New Reader
12/30/20 3:26 p.m.

Stalked, no. Storked, yes, but that was a long time ago. I ended up in the hospital.

bigdaddylee82
bigdaddylee82 UberDork
12/30/20 3:33 p.m.

I've told this before.

When I was a kid, pre-teen, late one afternoon, I was hunkered over in the creek near my grandparent's catching crawdads.  While attempting to catch crustaceans I heard a noise above me, and at the moment I looked up to see what it was, all I could see were talons and tail feathers.  I was attacked by a Barred Owl.  I rocked a shaggy bowl cut hairdo at the time, my assumption is that with me hunkered over, all the owl focused on was my head, and thought I was a shaggy haired snack.  

Not sure who was more surprised, me or the owl?

Steve_Jones
Steve_Jones HalfDork
12/30/20 6:32 p.m.
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

I mean.....emu's are dicks and I was followed around by one for awhile but otherwise....

I'm not sure anyone wants to be followed around by dicks. 

Antihero (Forum Supporter)
Antihero (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltraDork
12/30/20 6:59 p.m.
Steve_Jones said:
Antihero (Forum Supporter) said:

I mean.....emu's are dicks and I was followed around by one for awhile but otherwise....

I'm not sure anyone wants to be followed around by dicks. 

I'm not here to judge people's desires lol

 

But..... emu's are bastards in my experience

bigdaddylee82
bigdaddylee82 UberDork
12/30/20 7:27 p.m.

When the bubble finally burst on emu market around the turn of the century there were farms near where I grew up that literally opened their gates and turned their emus loose.

We had feral emus in the area for about 3 years.  There were reports of random sightings near my parents' place, then one day while grandpa was mowing hay there, he had a random emu come out of the woods near the hay field, and run laps around the tractor.  That's got to be pretty high up on the scale of, bizarre things that happened while mowing hay.

 

kazoospec
kazoospec UberDork
12/30/20 7:28 p.m.

Got home a few minutes ago to find a crazed bird flapping around in my garage.  This is getting out of hand. . . 

The Birds (film) - Wikipedia

thedoc
thedoc GRM+ Memberand HalfDork
1/2/21 2:29 p.m.

I had a bird obsessed with my car at the office but it didn’t stalk me.  We had to put a plastic dinosaur and a scarecrow balloon to get it to leave the car alone.

David S. Wallens
David S. Wallens Editorial Director
1/2/21 3:48 p.m.

I had a bat stalk me a for a while while out for a walk through the neighborhood one evening. It kept circling around me. Finally, it split. 

RX Reven'
RX Reven' GRM+ Memberand SuperDork
1/2/21 4:16 p.m.

kazoospec
kazoospec UberDork
1/2/21 7:29 p.m.

I should probably update.  I did a little bit of research, and my "stalker" looks like a "Sharp Shinned Hawk".  Not sure what he was stalking at work, but apparently at the house, he was likely staking out the birdfeeder.  Too bad, he's a really pretty bird, but we'll probably have to shoo him off if he comes back.  Mrs. Kazoo is unwilling to allow her feeder to be turned into a buffet.  She likes these little guys (her picture):

 

stukndapast
stukndapast Reader
1/2/21 9:11 p.m.

I'm a geology buff and on a visit to SF area one time I went to the Los Trancos Open Preserve where the San Andreas fault runs though.  There is a trail that follows the fault and runs through open areas as well as woods.  Along the way I was buzzed repeatedly by a hawk of some sort, I think it was a red-tailed, but not sure.  It swooped and screeched at me over and over again for probably a quarter mile or so.  I figured that it must of had its nest nearby with chicks and it saw me as a threat.  It came pretty damn close a couple of times too.  It was a very memorable experience.  The Open Preserve and fault trail were awesome too!  I've always been a big fan of raptors, until recently... We started raising chickens and have lost one to what I am certain was a red-tailed hawk.  I still like them, but we are going through a rough patch at the moment.

914Driver
914Driver MegaDork
1/3/21 7:36 a.m.

Yes, I have.  Last summer every time I walk out to the garage 140 ft. from the house, I got strafed by a hawk.  He was too quick for me to take a swing at him, I was just more afraid for our little 8lb. dog.

Grtechguy
Grtechguy MegaDork
1/3/21 7:57 a.m.

We had chickens on the farm growing up,  only once did we have a rooster with a  bad attitude towards humans. 

He had an adjustment that solved that and was delicious with biscuits.

captdownshift (Forum Supporter)
captdownshift (Forum Supporter) GRM+ Memberand UltimaDork
1/3/21 9:18 a.m.

Thankfully British women don't seem to be too keen on me. 

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