Oddest Sight you've seen

[Endrick]

Have you any interesting stories to tell? Just wildlife, of course! The drunk man in the mankini in Ibiza must wait

Here's one from my very small store of odd animal behaviours. Last year in November I was walking along the river. About 40 yards away a loud commotion up ahead in the water as a goosander was thrown out of the water and landed about 3 or 4 yards away. Otter, I thought but before I could focus my camera a large salmon lunged at the goosander again and knocked it away again. Whereupon the goosander managed to get up and fly away - apparently unscathed.

Malcolm

[seamusagleann]

wonder if it went for its foot moving through the water not unlike a toby or similar fishing lure would do!

[werdnal]

Not sure if these fit the bill:

A newly fledged buzzard youngster having a tug-of-war over a dead rabbit with my cat!

2ft grass-snake in my living room!

Seagull swimming in my garden pond.

[JennyS]

A mouse that had enough of being played with, biffed the cat with its paws then for good measure bit it on the nose and escaped to the nearby woodpile......

A friend, my son and myself watched in disbelief and cracked up laughing at the look on the cats face!

[sharki]

Not so much as odd but quite an exciting experience to be around.

Last summer i was watching/filming a pair of kingfishers in Plymouth.
The location was right under the nesting site of a pair of Peregrines. Whilst i sat watching and waiting for those fantastic flashes of blue and orange and listen to the wet slap as fish were knocked against the branch of a tree above me the call of the Peregrine's and their fledged young echo'd against the rocky cliff face. As the calls intensified like lunch was delivered, something came crashing through the trees and landed with a thud a few metres away from me. As i looked in that direction a shadow loomed in the trees to my left, a buzzard it landed perched on a branch and looked down at me then at a point to where the thud came from. i waited for it to respond, not knowing what was going on, what had fell and why all the sudden commotion.. The Buzzard flew off so i went to see just what had landed with a thud just over the bank from where i was sat. Laying dead on the ground was a bloodied wood pigeon.

I could only assume the buzzard had tried to poach the pigeon from a peregrine and dropped it through the trees.
A truly amazing and special day in the Plym valley

[Tursiops2]

Originally Posted by werdnal

Not sure if these fit the bill:

A newly fledged buzzard youngster having a tug-of-war over a dead rabbit with my cat!

I think that qualifies ! I'd love to have seen that! Who won?

Originally Posted by sharki

Not so much as odd but quite an exciting experience to be around.

I could only assume the buzzard had tried to poach the pigeon from a peregrine and dropped it through the trees.
A truly amazing and special day in the Plym valley

In similar vein...

I was sitting in one of the hides at Trimley Marshes last October. It was fairly "quiet" (for TM in October), just several hundred Teal with a few Shoveller and Pintail on the lagoon in front of me, and a couple of Marsh Harriers floating around, occasionally harassing the ducks. After about half an hour of not much happening, I was ready to push on further upriver. Then I heard a rather panic-stricken Redshank calling from the river behind me, and it came into view above the hide, with a Peregrine in hot pursuit.

The Redshank made it safely into the reeds, and the Peregrine started making a series of low, sweeping passes over the reserve. I lost track of her (definitely female,a big bird), and when I caught up with her, she was fluttering down to the ground with what looked like a Shoveller in her claws. I lost sight of her when she settled behind a bank of reeds.

All was quiet for a few minutes, and then the Harriers put in an appearance. Foolishly, I elected to follow the male through the bins, and I was surprised when the Peregrine flew, empty-clawed, across my field of view. Swinging back to look at where I'd last seen her, I found the female Harrier had obviously robbed her of her prey, and was lumbering across the marsh with the Shoveller. She settled about twenty yards away, in full view, and started to pluck the duck.

Again, peace settled on the marsh, this time for about half an hour, Then, I picked up two Buzzards winging in from the woods on the far side of the reserve. Again, Muggins follows the wrong bird, and when I swung back to the Harrier, she'd been displaced by the other Buzzard, and was now sitting twenty feet away, looking distinctly miffed, with the Buzzard happily scoffing the kill.

With the pecking order established, things finally settled down. The male Harrier made a few half-hearted passes at the Buzzard, and the Peregrine had another go at the Teal, without success, but eventually they all ended up - one Peregrine, two Marsh Harriers and two Buzzards - sitting on the ground, staring at each other. After about an hour, the Peregrine got fed up and flew off towards the docks. All the time this was going on, there was a Short-eared Owl on vole patrol in the distance.

I felt sorry for the Peregrine, losing her lunch like that, but I felt even sorrier for the Teal. They didn't get a moment's peace all afternoon. What with the Harriers and the Peregrine, they were so frazzled they even reacted to a Sparrowhawk when he swooped in after Meadow Pipits.

As you say, Sharki, a special day. Not odd, perhaps, but a fascinating and entertaining couple of hours. And to think some people would rather stay in and watch Daytime TV!
T2

[sharki]

What a cracking bit of raw nature, survival of the fittest, largest, boldest....

You can imagine how the teal felt, then again they may of been laughing at the whole predicament if Teal can laugh i'm sure they did, once their hearts calmed down..

[healfdan]

An incident that me laugh was seeing a large alsation being chased by a pair of crows. Each time the dog slowed down, one of the crows swooped in and clipped it. Despite the owner frantically shouting, whistling and jog trotting after the alsation, the animal had no intention of responding. The dog, owner and escort had travelled a good half mile before I lost sight of them.

[Wild-Woman]

An Azure Damselfly trying very hard to mate with a female Emperor Dragonfly that was busy ovipositing. Good job she was in a way, otherwise the Azure would probably have become a light snack for her!

[Meta menardi]

Many years ago now, but when I was ploughing and turned up a mouse nest, the adult mouse was picked up by a Pied Wagtail. I think it was just noseiness.