# I almost took out a raptor today
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [June 2, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545 "2008-06-02T22:14:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/1 "2008-06-02T22:14:23Z")
So I’m driving to work. First day back after two weeks in The Big Easy. Of course I picked up a cold on the plane back. Never fails. So I’m a bit groggy.
I see a raptor circling low, and assume in my half-awake state it’s some sort of hawk. Then I noticed its white tail, and its white head and its beak. Definitely a bald eagle.
It swooped down toward a red spot on the freeway – just as I was closing in on the same spot in the car. It swooped up quickly and went overhead, but it was pretty close.
Those birds are rather large up-close. Hadn’t thought of it before.
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### Author:  [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/2 "2008-06-02T22:22:02Z")
Oh, that’s the easy kind of raptor.
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### Author:  [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/3 "2008-06-02T22:26:33Z")
Wow. Not only a raptor–but a _federally protected raptor!_
Terrorist. 😃
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### Author:  [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/4 "2008-06-02T22:27:39Z")
The proud, majestic symbol of our nation is a carrion eater. Oh sure they will kill fresh prey, too, but they have no qualms about snacking on roadkill.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/5 "2008-06-02T22:27:55Z")
[QUOTE=Duck Duck Goose]
Wow. Not only a raptor–but a _federally protected raptor!_
[/QUOTE]
Yeah, I’d wondered how I’d explain it to the Feds had I hit it.
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### Author:  [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/6 "2008-06-02T22:31:16Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.]
Yeah, I’d wondered how I’d explain it to the Feds had I hit it.
[/QUOTE]
You wanted to hit it? Pervert!
(It isn’t even a mammal. And it has sharp knees.)
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/7 "2008-06-02T22:47:32Z")
Hands up, everyone who hoped this was going to involve a dinosaur, somehow…
_raises hand_
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/8 "2008-06-02T23:00:23Z")
Hands up everyone who thought this was about the F-22? 🙂
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### Author:  [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2008, 10:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/9 "2008-06-03T10:21:24Z")
Sheepish grin from anybody (else) who thought this was about a rhymingly-singing person?
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### Author:  [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2008, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/10 "2008-06-03T11:35:40Z")
[QUOTE=jayjay]
Hands up, everyone who hoped this was going to involve a dinosaur, somehow…
_raises hand_
[/QUOTE]
_raises hand also_, especially after catching a few older xkcd strips of late 😛
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### Author:  [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/11 "2008-06-03T12:57:45Z")
I posted a thread a few years ago about a near-miss hawk/car incident.
We were following a convertible on a country road, and a hawk launched itself up from the grass by the side of the road, a fat ground squirrel dangling from its claws. It had to veer suddenly upward to avoid the convertible, and it lost its grip on the squirrel - which landed neatly in the open car! The woman driving pulled aside, and we followed her. The gruesome squirrel carcass was right on the console between the two seats, and my husband plucked it out and threw it away for her. She was very agitated and grossed out.
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### Author:  [@beanpod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beanpod)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2008, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/12 "2008-06-03T13:44:49Z")
> **[Substitute](https://xkcd.com/135/)**
>
> YOU THINK THIS IS FUNNY?
(Whoever it was who first posted a link to XKCD here, thank you. You’ve brought me hours of joy.)
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [June 3, 2008, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/13 "2008-06-03T23:22:56Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz]
Hands up everyone who thought this was about the F-22? 🙂
[/QUOTE]
Just me and you? I thought Johnny was flying and…
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### Author:  [@Troy\_McClure\_SF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Troy_McClure_SF)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2008, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/14 "2008-06-04T01:38:13Z")
Hands up, BSG fans…
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/15 "2008-06-04T01:54:05Z")
I encountered a [wedge-tailed eagle](http://www.austmus.gov.au/factsheets/wedge_tailed_eagle.htm) while driving in Western Australia. It rose up off the road shoulder and cleared my windshield by a very narrow margin. Those things are huge!
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### Author:  [@Kythereia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kythereia)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/16 "2008-06-04T04:32:44Z")
[QUOTE=Troy McClure SF]
Hands up, BSG fans…
[/QUOTE]
_raises hand sheepishly_
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### Author:  [@LouisB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LouisB)
#### Post date: [June 4, 2008, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/17 "2008-06-04T04:35:46Z")
I thought he had a blind date with my ex-wife and then fled in terror when he saw her fangs.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/18 "2008-06-19T01:57:35Z")
On the 5, northbound in the Chuckanuts. Another raptor ‘near miss’. This time the raptor was some sort of hawk. It took off from the median carrying something black. Looked like a small bird. The hawk swooped low across the freeway, nearly being hit by cars. It was safe on the right shoulder. But then it took off and flew across the freeway again! Missed it by about a foot, and it dropped its meal.
What a birdbrain.
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### Author:  [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/19 "2008-06-19T02:53:11Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.]
What a birdbrain.
[/QUOTE]
There’s a reason that phrase exists…
Raptors tend to look incredibly noble. But like actual human nobles, that just hides the stupidity.
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### Author:  [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-almost-took-out-a-raptor-today/451545/20 "2008-06-19T02:54:20Z")
My dad nearly hit something- three somethings- last time he gave me a ride to the airport. Our best theory is that a great-horned owl was violating the resident red-tail’s territory\*, so the red-tailed hawk was chasing him out, with a crow from the neighborhood following behind either pretending to be helpful or just chasing the birds because that’s what they like to do. All I know is three birds flew within six feet of our windshield, at eye level, on I-5 where it’s 4 lanes wide in both directions.
Not everyone is lucky enough to miss: A guy in Yakima actually hit an osprey with his car. He carefully picked it up with overalls he had in his trunk, took it away from the road, and waited. The osprey wriggled out and flew off, looking angry but okay. There’s an article about it [here](http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/4904).
\*My mom knows where all the resident red-tails perch on the I-5 corridor between Portland and Seattle, so it makes the most sense.
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