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Author
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Topic: Place your bets
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted January 10, 2006 02:16 PM
Whose going to win?
Red-tailed hawk vs western diamondback rattlesnake...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/video/asx/051116_predator_video.asx
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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bigc
Knows what it's all about
Member # 777
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posted January 10, 2006 02:26 PM
Is it a natural situation? If so I say a draw! The hawk will swoop in snatch up the snake, inflicting it's damage. However, the snake will strike while in the air gettting venom into the hawk killing it in the end. The snake will be dropped and sustain fatal wounds upon impact witht he ground?
C
Posts: 32 | From: Utah | Registered: Jan 2006
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bigc
Knows what it's all about
Member # 777
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posted January 10, 2006 02:29 PM
Dang!!!
Posts: 32 | From: Utah | Registered: Jan 2006
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Lonny
PANTS ON THE GROUND
Member # 19
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posted January 10, 2006 04:29 PM
I see hawks carrying snakes quite often during the summer.
I'm not sure if they are red-tailed hawks or if they are even packing rattlesnakes, no doubt about it though hawks kill and eat snakes.
I guess I'll have to check out the link?
Posts: 1209 | From: Lewiston, Idaho USA | Registered: Jan 2003
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Cdog911
"There are some ideas so absurd only an intellectual could believe them."--George Orwell.
Member # 7
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posted January 10, 2006 06:53 PM
Watch the clip, then ask yourself a question...
Did that hawk possess that ability - the matador - when it hatched, did it learn thru observation, or did it learn from personal experience?
Wouldn't it stand to reason, no bigger than an RTH is, that a personal run-in with a rattler would likely be fatal? Makes you wonder if this hawk learned this behavior. Or not.
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I am only one. But still, I am one. I cannot do everything, but still, I can do something; and, because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
Posts: 5438 | From: The gun-lovin', gun-friendly wild, wild west | Registered: Jan 2003
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JeremyKS
Knows what it's all about
Member # 736
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posted January 10, 2006 06:57 PM
Thats a cool video.
Posts: 369 | From: Texas panhandle | Registered: Nov 2005
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Don kyHOtee
PAKMAN
Member # 786
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posted January 12, 2006 12:24 PM
Impressive.
I wonder how many times it ends up the other way?
Posts: 5 | From: TEXAS | Registered: Jan 2006
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NASA
Knows what it's all about
Member # 177
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posted January 12, 2006 01:02 PM
Rarely. Most buteos are good at catching snakes. However, they don't normally swoop down and snatch it from the ground. They are a little more calculating than that. Whether a rattlesnake or a gopher snake, the technique is generally the same. The wing feathers are used to induce a strike. The bird snatches the snake behind the head with a lightning fast foot strike. A quick bite behind the head severs the vertebrae. The bird flies off to its "butcher block" and enjoys its meal.
A young, inexperienced bird may take a strike from a rattler, but it is almost never fatal. The thick layers of feathers almost always deflect a chest or flank strike. The scales on the legs serve the same purpose. Hawks seem to know their limitations and stick to prey small enough to handle without too much risk.
Actually, a red-tail is more likely to suffer injury from an encounter with a jackrabbit, than from a rattlesnake.
[ January 12, 2006, 01:10 PM: Message edited by: NASA ]
Posts: 1168 | From: Typical White Person | Registered: Apr 2003
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Leonard
HMFIC
Member # 2
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posted January 12, 2006 02:36 PM
I don't even know how to spell, "quetzalqueatal" The Mexican bird of legend. However, the first time I saw a hawk flying with a snake, that is what I thought of, and damn near didn't make the next curve!
Welcome to the New Huntmasters, Don Quixote de la Mancha. Glad to have you on board.
Good hunting. LB
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EL BEE Knows It All and Done It All.
Don't piss me off!
Posts: 31462 | From: Upland, CA | Registered: Jan 2003
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