During my first foray up to Signal Knob yesterday I was at 4000' MSL at the towers and happened to look behind me and was shocked to see a huge raptor "tailing" me. It looked like a golden eagle with dark brown/blackish feathers. The bird was about 30 yards off my keel. I started S-turning and checking six with each turn and this damn bird was waxing my fanny each time. It actually dropped its talons once and I thought OH NO a strafing run is imminent, so I did a steep 360 to try to shake it off my tail. I guess it worked because I saw the bird pass by my left wing at my altitude, giving me a quick glance and heading off. Anybody else ever have a similar experience?
Yup, about 20 years ago I had an eagle follow me for a few hundred yards, threatening me with swoops, talons out. I had been flying near a cliff face where I speculate there was a nest. It was a bit intimidating.
Yesterday while flying at Lookout, a hawk joined me and stayed several feet from my (PG) wingtip for several turns.
I once got hit by a baldie at the Pulpit, leaving a small tear near the nose on the topsurface. Heard a thud and he rolled off in front of my glider upside down with legs/talons extended.
There seems to be a strong population of Bald Eagles near Woodstock. We see them more commonly than not. I have seen bald Eagles shadowing and stooping hang gliders a number of times. The birds that get the closest and flash talons are normally the babies. I believe the babies are playing and pose no threat. Bald Eagles do not develop white heads and tails for 3 years.
We have a breeding pair near one of our sites and I have flown with at least two juveniles. The books I have say that the birds don't have full adult plumage until app. 6 years old.
I and another pilot had an immature Bald fly first with one of us and then the other. It would switch back and forth and at times would fly beside us with legs down but without any threatening manner what so ever.
I have had one of the adults come from above me and stop 10 feet directly below my base tube. After about 30 seconds or so it came up under my right wing near the tip. It wasn't disturbed by me in the slightest. I was close enough to see the beak, eyes and individual feathers.
Three weeks ago I encountered one in the air that just may be this years hatchling. I was climbing well about 1000 feet when all of a sudden it appeared under me flailing around. I think that I may have out climbed it (something that I could never do with an older one). It was very obvious that it did not have the flying skills of an older bird.
I had a Red Tail settle in on my right wingtip out at Highland while I was thermalling. He was just behind my glider and I could get a really nice look at him. He stayed with me for 2 or 3 turns so I decided to level off.... he stayed. Then a right turn, and reversing turns... there he was. So close, it was awesome to watch his tail and wings make slight changes to stay in position.
He stayed on my glider for about 2-3 minutes. Haven't had that happen since..., was 3 years ago. Still think about it though, he was SO close.
Bacil,
If you are trying to shake a raptor off your six o'clock, the fighter pilot school trick is to initiate a bank in one direction to fake him out, then do a reversal - turn the opposite way. Probably won't work since hang-gliders don't really do snap rolls, but would be fun to try...
With all this discussion over immature balds and their propensity to "play" with hang gliders, I think the one that was tailing me was enjoying surfing my wake. I saw his feathers getting quite ruffled flying 30 yards or so off of my keel. I bet that he figured out that was the "sweet spot" for the most "fun", and held that position on purpose as I did minor S-turns back and forth.
I am always secretly amused by the birdwatchers that we see sitting on our launch at the Pulput. I mean nothing disparaging about their avocation but for all of their experience and organization they will never share the kind of experiences described in the posts we read here. Collectively we probably know more about how birds behave in the air than anyone.
I submit that Larry's post about outclimbing an inexpereinced eagle says something about the debate on "instinct versus learning" and the numerous posts about the birds being unbothered by our presence in their airspace, says something about their willingness to interact with humans, both of which are contrary to the opinions of many so called experts.
I have had numerous experiences where the birds have flow close enough to me that I could clearly see the expressions on their faces. Invariably the expressions seem to say "your flying skills suck" then they dart of to the thermal I've been stumbling around, speck out and yell back at me as they are flying away with "this is how it's done you knucklehead."
Apparently I once had a bird trailing along behind me. I never noticed him, but a fellow pilot did. He was quite amused telling me the story on the ground later. Apparently it was quite close behind.
a strafing run is imminent, so I did a steep 360 to try to shake it off my tail. I guess it worked because I saw the bird pass by my left wing at my altitude, giving me a quick glance and heading off. Anybody else ever have a similar experience?
