Circle of life indeed. Hopefully everyone has seen "Rango." That's one of the best lines, though obviously not the origin of the saying.
Several years ago when peregrine falcons were really scarce, a biologist friend of mine nursed a young one with a busted wing back to health. When it was ready to be released he took it from Lawton to near Tulsa where there was a breeding population and released it late one afternoon with a tracking collar on it.
It flew to a nearby tree and camped for the night. Next morning the tracking receiver still pointed at the tree. No falcon. At the base of the tree was the collar and a few remains. And somewhere nearby was a full bellied great horned owl.
My friend said he almost cried. He hadn't made a pet of the bird, but was pretty invested in getting him back into the wild. I said "circle of life," and he nearly threw me out of his office. Finally got him to laughing.
Happily the pergrines are back bigtime. During deer gun season, one hit a dove sitting about 20 feet above my blind . Sounded like somebody hit a stuffed toy with a baseball bat. The other two doves that had been in the same tree left abruptly. The falcon took the dove about a quarter mile to a tree and had lunch. As he landed it began to rain small dove feathers. They fell for maybe a minute, and then one larger feather came autorotating down.
Several years ago when peregrine falcons were really scarce, a biologist friend of mine nursed a young one with a busted wing back to health. When it was ready to be released he took it from Lawton to near Tulsa where there was a breeding population and released it late one afternoon with a tracking collar on it.
It flew to a nearby tree and camped for the night. Next morning the tracking receiver still pointed at the tree. No falcon. At the base of the tree was the collar and a few remains. And somewhere nearby was a full bellied great horned owl.
My friend said he almost cried. He hadn't made a pet of the bird, but was pretty invested in getting him back into the wild. I said "circle of life," and he nearly threw me out of his office. Finally got him to laughing.
Happily the pergrines are back bigtime. During deer gun season, one hit a dove sitting about 20 feet above my blind . Sounded like somebody hit a stuffed toy with a baseball bat. The other two doves that had been in the same tree left abruptly. The falcon took the dove about a quarter mile to a tree and had lunch. As he landed it began to rain small dove feathers. They fell for maybe a minute, and then one larger feather came autorotating down.
I heard about this video on the radio last week, thanks for linking. My 13 year old son and myself are LOAO right now.
