# OMG! It's a HAWK!



## Yvonne G (Oct 10, 2013)

First of all, a little background:

Several weeks ago my daughter called me to ask if I would take in a stray cat dumped off at the school where she works in the cafeteria. I have an old vacant house on the back of my property, and I took the cat and set her up in the bedroom back there. 

She was spayed last week, and yesterday my daughter came over and held her while I removed the stitches. So today was Lady Grey's first day outside. After spending more than a month locked up in a bedroom with only the occasional visit from me to feed her and clean up after her, with a little bit of petting and playing, she was pretty tuned in to me. She followed me around outside and when I came in the house, she hung around outside the door or by the kitchen window.

I was eating my lunch in my bedroom and the dog started raising a ruckus. I looked out the window and Lady Grey was all hunched up like a halloween cat. So I went outside to see what had her all upset. There was a hawk sitting on the ground just about 10' in front of the cat. I waved my arms at the bird but it just sat there. So naturally, I ran for the camera (that's natural, right? don't worry about the hawk making the cat a meal..run for the camera!)

By the time I got back outside the bird had flown up onto the roof of the tortoise house. Just inside this "gazebo" is a large flight containing a noisy blue crowned conure.

I don't know if the hawk was after the cat or the bird, but it kept eyeballing the wall where the bird was.


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## nate.mann (Oct 10, 2013)

haha, good reaction. lucky he didnt get ahold of the cat, that wouldve been a waste of money


0.1.0 Sonoran Desert Tortoise
0.0.1 Leopard Tortoise
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## Yvonne G (Oct 10, 2013)

Funny you say that, as that was my first thought too. Costs upwards of $70 to spay a cat around these parts. And I don't really have any emotion invested in Lady Grey as yet. So far she's causing me a lot of head aches as I can't let the dog out until the cat figures out all the hiding places, and she fights with my other outside cats. But I'm sure she'll grow on me. She's a pretty cat and has a nice personality.

The hawk's gone. The cats are safe. My bird has settled down, and all is right with the world!


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## nate.mann (Oct 10, 2013)

Yvonne G said:


> Funny you say that, as that was my first thought too. Costs upwards of $70 to spay a cat around these parts. And I don't really have any emotion invested in Lady Grey as yet. So far she's causing me a lot of head aches as I can't let the dog out until the cat figures out all the hiding places, and she fights with my other outside cats. But I'm sure she'll grow on me. She's a pretty cat and has a nice personality.
> 
> The hawk's gone. The cats are safe. My bird has settled down, and all is right with the world!



haha then that just amplifies it. oh what a mess, i know the feeling. its about the same around here, its better to pay the normal amount than to try and get it done cheap and have to pay A LOT more for corrective surgery or have it die. well, so long as the hawk stays away. 


0.1.0 Sonoran Desert Tortoise
0.0.1 Leopard Tortoise
1.0.0 Bluenose Pitbull/American Bulldog


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## mike taylor (Oct 10, 2013)

You need to grab your camera when there's something going on outside . It will save you time so you will not miss the shot . Ha ha ! Where I live if there's something going on outside I grab the 20 gauge not the camera. Ha ha

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## wellington (Oct 10, 2013)

LOL, poor cat. Playing second fiddle to a picture of a hawk . Glad it all worked out okay. But, next time could you grab the cat then run for the camera


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## thatrebecca (Oct 10, 2013)

Further evidence that Yvonne is basically Dr. Doolittle.


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## wellington (Oct 10, 2013)

Dr. DoLittle wouldn't have left the cat. and would have been able to tell that hawk to stay where he was, so she could get the perfect shot


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## BeeBee*BeeLeaves (Oct 10, 2013)

Hawks are so majestic and beautiful EXCEPT when they want to make a meal from a pet. Camera? cat? camera? cat? Camera! Too funny!


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## Team Gomberg (Oct 10, 2013)

*Re: RE: OMG! It's a HAWK!*



wellington said:


> Dr. DoLittle would have been able to tell that hawk to stay where he was, so she could get the perfect shot


Hahaha this cracked me up!


Sent from my TFOapp


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## harris (Oct 11, 2013)

I LOVE hawks! I have a few different species that hang out on my property because I also feed the birds year round.


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## Yvonne G (Oct 11, 2013)

harris said:


> I LOVE hawks! I have a few different species that hang out on my property because I also feed the birds year round.



This one seemed so tame. He didn't seem afraid of me at all. I was about 10' from him flapping my arms and telling him to "shoo" and he just sat there looking at me.


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## N2TORTS (Oct 11, 2013)

Yikes! ..... Great shots and story Yvonne. I too have a young hawk hanging out spying the Cove' . Remember the little ducks I hatched out 4-5 weeks back ... he was eyeballing them . One of them was out running around in the pen and while I was working with the torts I turned around and v^v^swooshv^v^ this hawk was making a dive bomb for the little duckling. The torts are my everything .... so no more ducks.
Yesterday ....My neighbors have a large bird feeder that sits on the rear fence ... Lot's of wild birds attended and feast there..."The hawk knows that too" .... as every morning now ..he makes a dive bomb for the "bird buffet table" ......Beautiful creature for sure .. but not my best friend....and you can't do anything as they are protected. 
Although .... I did bag a opossum the other night ......a pure nuisance no doubt ,scary as hell looking and fully legal to "remove" from your property. You can even spot light them while hunting them ....
Bizarre ..... Illegal to trap and re locate to another area....park , canyon , your pain the neck neighborâ€™s house .. 


Do you have any plans as a deterrent ?

J~


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## Yvonne G (Oct 11, 2013)

No, I'm pretty sure it was a once in a life time thing. I doubt he'll be back since he wasn't successful at whatever he thought he saw here to eat.

I usually leave the wildlife alone, and they reciprocate. I used to do that with the wasps too, but once I got stung all bets are off. Now I spray them and knock their nests down every chance I get.


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## ascott (Oct 11, 2013)

We have Falcon, Hawk, Owl and Raven here....they are all very cool unto themselves and prove beneficial in alot of ways....we are also in the migratory path for Turkey Vultures (one of my favs) ...we will also have Canadian Goose and Great Blue Herron grouos fly right over...it is awesome...

I am glad all worked out well Yvonne (I am glad you chose the camera, great pic)....and absolutely the Hawks seem very intrigued by us and don't readily flee and the Ravens don't fly away either---unless you look them straight in the eyes, so funny--then they will fly away....it is like they act as though you don't see them unless you make eye contact, kinda like one of the stray Tom cats that pass through---he will walk right close if you don't make eye contact, but the moment eye contact is made.....woosh, he is off...lol


Oh yeah Yvonne, so you are into taking in strays huh....I have a posse here I would be happy to donate....


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## Yvonne G (Oct 11, 2013)

ascott said:


> Oh yeah Yvonne, so you are into taking in strays huh....I have a posse here I would be happy to donate....



At one time I had 15 or so cats. I live on a very busy street that is one of the ways Fresnans get up to the foothills around here. So when they felt like dropping their cats off in the country, they usually ended up at my house. Over the years they've died off, and I'm now down to one inside and three outside cats.


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## ascott (Oct 11, 2013)

> At one time I had 15 or so cats. I live on a very busy street that is one of the ways Fresnans get up to the foothills around here. So when they felt like dropping their cats off in the country, they usually ended up at my house. Over the years they've died off, and I'm now down to one inside and three outside cats.



The neighbors next door are the culprits to the mess around here with the cats...( I say mess because the two un altered females that they cut loose are now near 10+ cats and those cats will collect a cat or two to come on over and play) So the first time I noticed the cats my son told me that he watched them bring the cats out of their car when they came home one day ---during a really cold time of the year (26 degrees outside) and this female was skin and bones and pregnant..so I did the cardinal sin and fed her a can of tuna...well, she made it and she has likely been pregnant a few times in the last couple years...but only two successful kittens/cats now from her--the other female is a baby machine and apparently is a good mother, as all of the additions are hers...well, the other neighbors have three rotts and one of them has discovered cats in their yard and have cut the population by two in one week...

I am not able to catch them, while they will come up and let me touch the two original females, none of the offspring will come close enough for me to catch them...I will put food out for them so they don't get weak and sick--some have gone on their own way and some have apparently suffered their fate at the mouth of the rott...

The thing is, until the neighbors brought those two cats, I had never ever ever seen a single cat in the entire immediate area...figure the coyotes and strays kept them to zero around here....don't rightly know.

They are all healthy and they are superb rodent hunters and I have not seen a single gopher nor squirrel around our or the rott neighbors yard.....


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## nate.mann (Oct 12, 2013)

in my neighborhood, there was only ONE cat. it was my little sisters, his name was Tom and he was orange, no special breed or anything. we got him from the humane society when she was in preschool, 11 years ago. he was four when we got him (according to previous owners that turned him in with two others of the same litter). he roamed the neighborhood as he pleased, would hunt in the crop field at the end of our street and bring back mice, birds, gophers, all kinds of goodies, and tear them up in the same spot on our front lawn. we know of at least 4 people who would put food and water out for him daily, there possibly was more. he used to lay on the sides of roads in near-by areas, or within the neighborhood (people found him laying on their back patios, inside their vehicles with open windows or on top of them, sometimes even under). he was very friendly, everyone knew him and pet him, never had a problem. he would go away for a few days at a time, randomly (even disappeared for three weeks once, wonder what happened there). he passed earlier this year, someone had, most likely on purpose, veered off the road, into the rocks, and ran him over. if he had continued on the way he was without sudden health issues, he wouldve lived for at least a couple more years. best cat that ever lived, by far. 


0.1.0 Sonoran Desert Tortoise
0.0.1 Leopard Tortoise
1.0.0 Bluenose Pitbull/American Bulldog


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