Not only has my life as a Navy wife moved me out of my comfort zone and ALL the way across the country to the Pacific Northwest, but it has also introduced me to things that I have never had to deal with before (although I guess that could also be filed under "out of my comfort zone").
First, as soon as we moved here Mr. V wanted to check out the Cascades National Park. Please see one of my very first blog posts for a recap of that adventure. The short version of that event is that I learned what "real" camping is. Apparently, there are places where you have to get a permit to go camping. I believe its called a back country permit. When I questioned Mr. V as to why you would need one of these, his answer was something along the lines of "Well that way, if a grizzly bear kills you and you don't come back, the park rangers know where to look for you." I'm sorry....GRIZZLY BEARS??? What happened to the somewhat cute and not quite as terrifying black bears of the Appalachian Mountains?? The horrifying thing about that comment was that he was dead serious.
Second, one of the first things we discovered when we moved here was that there are bald eagles EVERYWHERE. At first, I liked this. I thought it was pretty cool to see bald eagles everywhere. I had seen them in zoos before and we saw one once behind out apartment in Jacksonville, but I had never truly witnessed these giant birds in their natural habitat. As a kid I always learned that bald eagles were "beautiful" and "majestic" and that is the description that I also carried with me. What people fail to mention is that these "beautiful and majestic" creatures are actually vicious, violent, cold blooded killers. I guess in the back of my mind I knew this, but I try very hard not to watch National Geographic shows that involve animals killing animals. That's not really my cup of tea. So needless to say, when I witnessed the way these creatures kill, live and in person - NOT on TV, my view of the bald eagle population around here drastically changed. I no longer think they are pretty and majestic. It now creeps me out when I see them flying around and sitting in trees around here. As far as I'm concerned, if all the bald eagles in the world disappeared tomorrow, they wouldn't be missed by me.
To illustrate what I am talking about, here's a picture of the bald eagle killing an innocent, cute creature. Last April a group of friends and I were at another friend's house for a barbeque. We were all sitting on his porch, enjoying the cool air and the scenic view of the water in front of his house. A small cluster of ducks were floating around carelessly. Everything was beautiful and serene...until a "beautiful and majestic" bald eagle appeared out of nowhere. In a split second it killed the serenity of the moment by swooping down into the water and grabbing a duck out of the water. To make matters even worse, he then proceeded to fly around a few times as if he was showing off his catch!! Of course, all the guys around thought this was the coolest thing ever. I wanted to cry. It seriously disturbed me and any time someone mentions how great it is that there are bald eagles everywhere I think of that moment. I know its the food chain. I know how nature works. But I really had no interest in seeing that nature demonstrated right in front of me. Since Mr. V was one of the ones who was excited to see the eagle with the duck, he grabbed his camera and as the eagle made one of his passes in front of us (this was probably the 2nd or 3rd time he flew past us showing off) he snapped a picture. The picture is small, but if you click on it and zoom in, you can clearly see that the eagle is holding a poor little duck in his talons :-(. Maybe I shouldn't post the picture, but I promise, it was much more disturbing in person!
Now finally, what brings me to this post in the first place. If you've read my recent posts, you'll know that I have a family of cats living in my backyard. They are completely feral, and we have set out on a mission to trap them all to get them spayed/neutered, so they don't reproduce in our backyard. However, feral or not, they are cats. I'm a cat lady. I have 10 cats of my own. So while the cats in my backyard my never be cuddly or sweet, they still look like the cats in my house, and they are fun to watch in the backyard when we sit and watch TV at night (ever see a cat climb trees, jump from tree to tree and then on the roof of a house?) I would never want anything bad to happen to these guys. I realize I can't protect them from everything, but I'd like to make my backyard as safe as possible for them.
Once we realized we had feral cats out there Mr. V and I had a conversation that went something like this:
Brooklet: "You know, my friend, who works at a local vet, said that they frequently get cats that have been dropped by eagles."
Mr. V: "Yeah a friend of mine was driving to work and saw a cat fall out of the sky - it was dropped by an eagle."
Brooklet: *horrified* "What if an eagle swoops down into our backyard and kills the cats?"
***It should be noted that cats being caught and killed and/or dropped by eagles is apparently something that happens often around here. Another lady told us a few nights ago that her friend had an eagle nest fall out of tree and there were 20 collars inside of it.****
Mr. V: " No there's no way that can happen. Our backyard is small, fenced in and has trees. Its too small and cluttered for an eagle or a bird of prey to swoop down into."
Brooklet: "Are you sure?"
Mr. V: "Yes, absolutely."
Fast forward to yesterday. I was in another room when I heard Mr. V yell "Brooklet come quickly!" I ran into the living room to see what he was yelling about and he says to me "Remember when I said our backyard was too small for a bird of prey to swoop down into? Well....I think I was wrong."
It turns out that a hawk had swooped down into our yard and was sitting calmly on our fence. Granted, a hawk isn't an eagle. But its still a bird of prey and it can still easily kill small animals. Needless to say, we haven't actually seen any of the backyard cats in 3 days. I seriously doubt that one hawk would have been able to kill all 6 of them that quickly, but where did they go??
I did some research today and learned that cats may be scared away by hawks, so I am hoping that is what happened and that they will come back. In the meantime, I also learned that once a hawk appears somewhere, it will come back, especially if there is a food source for them.
Fantastic!! Now I have a hawk living in my backyard and I'm worried about the cats out there. So back to my original question, does anyone know how to make a hawk go away and stay away?
At this point, I really don't think I will ever be completely comfortable in Washington. I've had enough of the "beautiful" nature out here! I miss my back yard in New Jersey. There were woods behind my house, but the only creatures we ever saw were deer, squirrels, chipmunks, an occasional wild turkey, and a groundhog that lived under our shed. That is much more peaceful and much more preferred by me!
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