| | | | | Red in tooth and claw WHO HASN'T been impressed by the courage and tenacity of our Indian mynahs when they protect their nests? I once saw three of them take on a gymnogene – a large raptor - above the CBD. It was like watching Spitfires harrying a Heinkel bomber in the Battle of Britain. I've often seen mynahs attacking pied crows on the Berea, two or three at a time, great mid-air drama as they whirl and peck. I've also seen them dive-bomb and peck a rat on the ground – it didn't know if it was coming or going. Now an account comes this way from a former US fighter pilot who farms in Wisconsin – somewhat scaled up because this time it was crows against an eagle. He was out planting corn when a golden eagle with a six-foot wingspan flew in front of the tractor. It was being chased by three crows that were dive- bombing and pecking.
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The eagle banked hard right in an evasive manoeuvre, then landed about 100 feet from the tractor. The crows all landed too and took up positions around the eagle but kept their distance. Then the reinforcement showed up.
"I spotted the eagle's mate hurtling down out of the sky at what appeared to be Mach 1.5. Just before impact, the eagle on the ground took flight, (obviously a co-ordinated tactic; probably pre-briefed) and the three crows also took flight, thinking they were going to get in some more pecking.
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"The first crow being targeted by the diving eagle never stood a snowball's chance in hell. There was a mid-air explosion of black feathers, and that crow was done.
| "The diving eagle then banked hard left in what had to be a 9-G climbing turn, using the energy it had accumulated in the dive, and hit Crow 2 less than two seconds later. Another crow dead.
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"The grounded eagle, which was now airborne and had an altitude advantage on the remaining crow that was streaking eastward in full burner, made a short dive, then banked hard right when the escaping crow tried to evade the hit. It didn't work. Crow 3 bit the dust at about 20 feet.
"This aerial battle was better than any air show I've been to. The two eagles ripped the crows apart and ate them on the ground and, as I got closer and closer working my way across the field, I passed within 20 feet of one of them as it ate its catch. It stopped and looked at me as I went by, and you could see in the look of that bird that it knew who's Boss of the Sky. What a beautiful bird!
"I loved it. Not only did they kill their enemy, they ate them. This was one of the best fighter pilot movies I've seen in a long time."
Yes, nature is red in tooth and claw. Also, it would seem, the US Air Force. |
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| For the gals SOME sound advice comes this way, directed at young women: · Don't imagine you can change a man - unless he's in nappies.
· What do you do if your boyfriend walks out? You shut the door.
· If they put a man on the moon - they should be able to put them all up there.
· Go for the younger man. You might as well, they never mature anyway.
· Men are all the same - they just have different faces, so we can tell them apart.
· The best way to get a man to do something is to suggest he's too old for it.
· Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye-opener.
· The Children of Israel wandered around the desert for 40 years. Even in Biblical times, men wouldn't ask for directions.
· If he asks what sort of books you're interested in, tell him cheque books.
· Remember a sense of humour doesn't mean that you tell him jokes, it means you laugh at his.
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Tailpiece
Glamorous woman at hotel reception: "Could you check me out please?"
Reception clerk (after coolly looking her up and down several times): "Not bad. Not bad at all."
Last word
There is no reciprocity. Men love women, women love children, children love hamsters.
Alice Thomas Ellis
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