So Saturday morning while drinking morning coffee in the back yard, Red my wife's rooster and his 5 hens come strolling by me. They are our yard chickens. Late morning my wife gets on the mower and while mowing she saw a dead hen around back of the barn. I went to go put it in a trash bag and looked around looked. It looked like quite a struggle went on back there, feathers everywhere. The dead hen was missing, it's head and it's addomen opened up, heart and liver eaten. I looked and found red with 3 hens in the barn under the lean to. But where did the other hen go? This happened behind the barn in broad daylight. The dead hen was not buried like the ducks were this spring, but that happened over night. It was a mystery untill today.
Today I came out of the cave and what do I see? A golden eagle sitting on top of the corner fence post of the garden. It was not a bald eagle but a golden eagle. It saw me and jumped up and flew off to the south east. That bird has quite the impressive wing span. I watched it a few minutes as it glided along circling around one of my tall white oak trees about 10 acres from where I was. Then up popped another eagle out of the oak tree. I watched both glide along in the air. Quite majestic to watch them soaring along in the air.
So I'm pretty sure, although can't be certain that I have a pair of eagles nesting in my oak tree. I'll try and look for a nest but it may be difficult to spot. It's a huge tree and oaks don't fully shed their leaves until the spring time.
I'm also pretty sure, although again have no proof that a eagle grabbed one of my hens, because there was way to many feathers for just the one hen, my wife found dead. I also seen chicken feathers around the same tall oak tree I looked for a nest but it's hard to see up there with all the leaves.
Am I mad or upset, that I lost a few yard hens? Nope absolutely not, they were old hens anyways and mainly had them free ranging for amusement and insect control. If I fed a nest of golden eagles with some old free range hens. I'm totally cool with that Red and his now 3 hens are hanging out under the run in behind the barn. They aren't venturing out and roaming the yard anymore. Pretty smart, for chickens if you ask me. We have 15 young hens in with the turkeys that are pretty much safe with a roof and enclosed with 6' tall fencing.
Here's a interesting read on Golden Eagles. If they are nesting in the oak tree they are more than welcome to stay, I'm thrilled to have them here. But with all the DDT and near extinction I'm thrilled to have them on my property.
I also have a pair of Blue Herring (storks) in my pond again they are welcome to stay if they desire. I've watched them eat small bass out of the pond. They are skittish, and fly off almost instantly when they see you. I don't know if there is a nest or not but still pretty cool to have them around. They don't seem to mind my wife's ducks in the pond.
Often mistaken for bald eagles, golden eagles are a large diurnal bird of prey. Discover fascinating golden eagle facts!
www.thoughtco.com
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I really don't want to know... I'm going in for a shower, have fun whatever kind of kittens you are. Just leave my chickens and turkeys alone.
I called here kitty kitty kitty and that's when I stopped myself and thought. Usually where there's kittens there's a momma... It's just been so quiet around here I almost forgot about the cougar. One cry most definitely in the pasture by the barn and the other cry sounded like it was coming from the far side of the garden or over that way. Two cry's spaced pretty far apart, where was the momma? :max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/GettyImages-584988811-589cfdfe3df78c475878ffc5.jpg)
