Golden Eagle Adventure...

[Bonedigger]

Fellow Lady and Sir Kinghts,

We had an exciting afternoon here in Western South Dakota today.  Much like a Quentin Tarantino movie, I'll begin halfway thru this quick story --  we almost lost our little dog (Cairn Terrier) today to a BIG Golden Eagle.  About 11:45 AM, MST I was in the office (separated from the house by a a hundred feet or so) goofing around on the computer and having difficulty (dogs barking LOUDLY) talking to a friend in town about gymnastics class for our youngest daughter:  Rural-RedNecks have several dogs and trampolines in their yards as is one of our ancient unwritten rules of engagement.   These precautions are often used as an extremely effective alarms when unexpected visitors arrive; dogs bark and bouncing kids can see further, thus sounding the alarm doubly as well...

Anyway, I heard a lot of barking and peeked out the door just in time to see a GIGANTIC Eagle (type bird) swooping down after our little Terrier, Oscar.  Quickly leaping down and running towards the pup while hollering at this MONSTER Bird which was only 20-30 feet above the ground...  Whew, Oscar was safe and we quickly retreated back into the office shaking from the experience with me searching for the camera. 

Sadly, after finding my old (Sony MVC FD-91) standby I was able to get a picture of the same sharp-clawed raptor with a domestic black-cat in it's claws while perching on a limb in the back field.  Not sure who's cat it was, maybe it was simply a feral, but there is one less house-cat in the world today, the pictures are bad, but believe me, the outcome is accurate...


Oscar



After things settled down and I had a chance to get out Autobahn Bird Identification book I discovered (as I'd suspected) it was a Golden Eagle which is building a nest in a shelter belt about 300 yards from out house!

And here are the PICTURES!!

Take Care
Ben

[Triggersmob]

I'm glad little Oscar is safe. As much as I hate cats, I hope the cat was not someones loving pet.

Ben, only one pic is working for me.

[Paint Your Wagon]

I'm glad little Oscar is safe. As much as I hate cats, I hope the cat was not someones loving pet.

Ben, only one pic is working for me.

I only see one pic too allthough the red cross has an id

[AdamL]

Yeah, we're only seeing the pic of Oscar. I'm glad he's alright. Too bad about that poor cat though 

[AdamL]

And when I read "Gold eagle" I thought we'd be talking about a coin.

[Bonedigger]

Arrrg.  Here is the picture

[EgCollector]

Glad that Oscar is OK, i had a similar dog for about 17 years.

...........it was a Golden Eagle which is building a nest in a shelter belt about 300 yards from out house!

Ben, Take care of Oscar and dont leave him outside alone. He is in the Eagles hunting zone now.

[CoinCrusader42]

Very intersting story.

We often times see eagles and hawks in this area, but to my knowledge no pets have been grabbed.

We have three cats.  They live outdoors, and so far, so good.

 

[scottishmoney]

Several years ago our one three legged black cat was out on the deck and a hawk came up and tried to take off with him.  The funniest part of it was the cat was griping the whole time, like he thought he was going to take that bird out or something.  I have three cats, all indoor - I believe they are better off being indoor cats.