Tails of nature

[flying frog]

I just had nature moment the other day. Taking a Locust top out with a crane. Top had some life to it, but plenty of dead. As it came off and swung into the sun, it was brushing past some whips and I saw a shadow of a foot long stub about to be launched my way! I turned my head and felt it hit my chest and watched it fall 35ft into a bed of ivy. It started to wiggle and flip around.... Possum .It was pretty thick with ivy so it probably had a soft landing. And hitting me it slowed down its airspeed as well. Anyway, the little birdy's flying around its head cleared some, it got up and walked away like a drunken sailor, found himself a drainage ditch and crawled about as far back underground as he could get. Maybe I'll change my handle to flying possum. Frog was another story.
Anyone else with some animal tails to tell.

 

[TDunk]

I've been atacked by a bird and a cat (that i was trying rescue) I have to admit, if i was a groundie watching a possum come sailing out of a top, rail the climber in the chest, flip-flop 35' to the ground, and then stagger away.........i'd prolly have to laugh after it was all said and done. If i was the climber though, i'd be going to find some new undies.

 

[Canyonbc]

Last summer... doing easy flow and drop leave the wood on for 4....40ft cottonwoods...all dead.

When i dropped the second one...and was logging through the top 15 ft...or so...i run out of gas and here a churp churp churp...walk back to logging and its louder...look inside 5 baby woodpeckers nesting in the tree...i had barely, knicked one in the head.

The old lady inside had seen it, and came out to see what it was. So i told her i would take them to them local wildlife animal hospital...for wild injured animals. She told me and i quote...cause i never forget her voice..."YOU BETTER (kind of yelling, then a much softer voice) but i ll give you an extra 100 bucks".

I was ok with that...gonna take them down anyways...the shelter was a 10 min. drive each way...was in 40 min.

Got a post card about a month later from the shelter saying Thank you, and that all the birds were well and healthy and being let back into the wild.

Thats my animal story.

 

[M.D. Vaden]

The arborist who I contract with to climb for me in Portland had a brief stare-down with a Racoon in a pin oak.

I store the image on the Portland tree service referral page on my website.

That's about it for in the trees.

Just one wasp nest well before a problem occured.

 

[oldirty]

down in florida working on a palm tree i ended up in a duel of sorts with a citrus rat. he came at me i had a saw he ended up hopping over the saw and onto my shoulder off my shoulder and to the ground. i was left twirling around in the bucket looking for the bastard with the boys in tears on the ground.

up here i have had a few flying squirrels to deal with. cute little guys they are. anyway nothing more than them using me as a branch to fly off into the neighbors yard. pretty cool site to see, a flying squirrel....flying (gliding).

on 2 occasions i have brought a litter of grey squirrels to the vet. and when they ask how i am going to pay for there "help" i usually tell em i couldve chipped em. i did help them. what are you going to do for them now? and then walk out.

a few birds here and there. some deer. nothing too exciting by way of big animals i did see a coyote in my neighborhood the other day.

although i did have the pleasure of driving down the road one day and happened to look up into a driveway and saw a lady being chased around her car by a turkey.

a couple of bald eagles buzzed through an opening i was walking in on a rec climb in may.

to be honest though i wouldnt mind working in an area that has alot of big time animals to actually be wary of.



oldirty

 

[Mark Currie]

About 2 years ago, I was working in Virginia, doing some city work for Falls Church. I was taking a dead top out of a street tree (red maple) and chucked a 2 foot section from the bucket. A few seconds later, I noticed my crew leader and the other crew member bending over, inspecting the piece I just threw down. Come to find out, there were about 4 or 5 baby squirrels inside. I'm not even sure if they had their eyes open. Anyway, the seemed healthy. Crew leader put some gloves on and moved them to safety and covered them with some leaves and stuff. We went back the next day and they were gone, hopefully taken away by the mother.

My crew leader told us about a time that he was doing a removal near a condo unit, level with the second floor of one condo. This woman was holding up a sign (in protest). I forget what the sign was, but as he cut through one section of the tree, blood flew out and hit the window. He had cut through a squirrel. Needless to say, the woman didn't stay to watch the rest of the removal. But, that's not my story, so I probably screwed up some of the details.

 

[highasatree]

We were clearing a lot for a new sub-division down on the Niagara peninsula years ago, flopping and skidding out 50-60 foot hard wood trees. There was a raccoon in one of the trees that was stihl there after a couple of days. We had no choice, flopped the tree over and the rascal survived and climbed up the next available tree. Unfortunately that tree was the next to come down. He survived that fall too. He scampered away probably to find a nice ground level hole to gather his witts...Eugene

 

[Mitchell]

coons and owls

We were clearing a lot for a new sub-division down on the Niagara peninsula years ago, flopping and skidding out 50-60 foot hard wood trees. There was a raccoon in one of the trees that was stihl there after a couple of days. We had no choice, flopped the tree over and the rascal survived and climbed up the next available tree. Unfortunately that tree was the next to come down. He survived that fall too. He scampered away probably to find a nice ground level hole to gather his witts...Eugene

I ahve installed a sheet of 4' flashing to a tree so they can get down but can not climb back up. Next day tree should be clear.

I have also felled a tree with a family of spotted or great horned owls. They were none to pleased.

 

[jomoco]

I was craning out about 12 small to medium pines at Sea World here in San Diego to make room for a huge new Shamu show tank. I had finished early and was driving out in my tool truck when I was waved over by a couple of Sea World wildlife biologists running up from behind me yelling stop.

They informed me that a very large Pelican was tangled up in a bunch of fishing line and hanging about 50 feet off the ground in a large Torrey pine above their research institute. They further informed me that the huge bird was completely exhausted and slowly choking himself to death as he feebly struggled to free himself. They pleaded with me to get the bird on the ground so they could treat it and hopefully save it's life.

The crane and crew had already left, so I drove across a few parking lots to the research institute and parked in front to check on the situation. Sure enough, a very large pelican had become tangled up but good in fishing line wrapped around a branch about halfway up a large Torrey behind the institute on the bay side.

I told the biologists there was no way I was going to try and man handle a bird that big and pissed off like Marlin Perkins, but that I would be willing to quickly climb the tree, position myself above the trapped bird, tie a lowering line to the branch on which the bird was trapped, and very gently lower it to the ground where THEY could get THEIR hands on it.

I quickly laid out my lines, footlocked up the tree, tagged in well above the bird, ran my lowering line through a crotch directly over the branch the bird was on, tied it about six feet from the bird, took a couple wraps and locked off the lowering line, fired up the saw and made my cut so the branch and bird slowly hinged down to a vertical hang, unlocked the lowering line and gently lowered the whole flapping furious mess to the ground.

The biologists were ready and eagerly waiting with nets and scissors and bird meds, the bird was apparently still healthy enough to give both bioloists a heck of a fight as they struggled with it on the ground.

I cut the branch back to a lateral, chucked the stub down away from the busy biologists, rappelled down, pulled out my ropes, coiled them, stowed them in my truck and walked back to check on the bird and biologists.

They successfully cut the big bird free after sedating it to calm him down.
They applied antiseptics to his many bloody cuts, then gently stuffed into a big ventilated box for the ride to the bird hospital.

They then shook my hand while thanking me profusely. I told them they were quite welcome, and that we would bill them for my time as well as the branch cleanup the next morning as an addendum to the original crane work.

I never fully realised just how big a full grown Pelican really was until I saw one taking on those two biologists that day, even trapped in fishing line and under a net, that bird gave em a pretty good fight, and they both had the bloody scratches to prove it!

Nothing like Marlin Perkins though, when he grabbed that full grown Condor
by the feet and rappelled with him down that cliff as the giant bird ferociously pecked him in the head. If Perkins hadn't been wearing a helmet that bird would probably have killed him!

I guess that's why they call it the WILD KINGDOM!

Work safe!

jomoco

 

[Nailsbeats]

Was about 70' up in a white pine once about ready to drop the top when I heard a bunch of squeaking. Squirrel's nest, just baby's, two fell to the ground, one landed on a black top driveway and got busted up. The other landed on the grass and made it. The rest hit the ground when I cut off the branch the nest was on. Couldn't find them on the ground because of the thick pile of pine limbs. Oh well, what are you gonna do? Oh yeah, cut a Coon once that was in a hollow spar we were firewooding.

 

[flying frog]

the Possum was my second crane critter. The first was a momma racoon and four half sized babies. I find they're about as hard as hippies to wake up during the day. They where sleeping in the middle of a half dead oak hollow. We finished taking the top out and got to their apartment. So, we took fifteen foot of living space off and as it was pulling away, one of the kids decided to make a break for it and crawled out of the whole.
The video of this little guy as he's spinning around and around on the log would have gotten me $10,000 on America's Funniest Videos.
I need to Get a Helmut Cam!

 

[3yrclimberARK]

I gave up counting all the grey squirrels (babies and adults) I've encountered in the tree. I've had several adults use me as a vaulting off point when I knock on the door the their house just to see if anyone is home. Got a few scratches and get to watch my mexicans try and catch lunch. So far they've been unsuccessful. I did run across a mother coon and 3 of her younguns in a dead oak last year. Momma crawled out early and found a nice comfy twig to perch on about 80 feet up. I cut the top half of the tree and she hit the ground at a run right between my ground man legs. I found her kids about 3 inches under one of my cuts while blocking down the tree. My boss gave themm to his brother and I'm pretty sure they are still terrorrizing his dogs to this day.

2nd hand story (but a good one): The old hippie that taught me how to climb was about 90 ft up a pine (when and where?) Neighboring tree top has a huge nest and a nice thick branch pointed his way with the tip within reach. Upon cloer visual inspection of the nest it turned out to be occupied by rather large and pissed off eagle who bounced out on that branch to within a couple of feet and screeched at my friend. Needless to say he promptly apologized for intuding to the bird and left the sceen most hastily.

 

[frodo]

once on a large dead oak removal, i cut the top 20ft of the tree off and out popped a lynx i guess it must of been a mother or something because it came at me with such force, like it was protecting its young or something, it blew me right off the side of the tree. luckily i was tied into a neighboring maple tree. as i swung around 50ft from the side of the tree with this thing tearing into my neck and chest all i could think is oh what the *&%#!! is happening to me. just as i started to regain my composer i swung into the maple tree knocking me momentarily unconscious. when i came to the big cat was still latched onto my right foot hanging on for its life. i pulled my chainsaw lanyard up took my still running chainsaw squeezed the trigger and swung at the cat and cut my big toe completely off.opcorn:

 

[(WLL)]

once on a large dead oak removal, i cut the top 20ft of the tree off and out popped a lynx i guess it must of been a mother or something because it came at me with such force, like it was protecting its young or something, it blew me right off the side of the tree. luckily i was tied into a neighboring maple tree. as i swung around 50ft from the side of the tree with this thing tearing into my neck and chest all i could think is oh what the *&%#!! is happening to me. just as i started to regain my composer i swung into the maple tree knocking me momentarily unconscious. when i came to the big cat was still latched onto my right foot hanging on for its life. i pulled my chainsaw lanyard up took my still running chainsaw squeezed the trigger and swung at the cat and cut my big toe completely off.opcorn:

poor kitty

 

[oldirty]

i pulled my chainsaw lanyard up took my still running chainsaw squeezed the trigger and swung at the cat and cut my big toe completely off.opcorn:

no way man. no way you cut your big toe off fighting with the lynx. i need proof . post a pic of that nasty mangled toe you got. the only way i buy this well spun tale is with some proof.


and as a buzzard myself, jomoco, i fully appreciate the help to some of my fellow feathered breathren. lol. good story though.

 

[(WLL)]

i did a 1/2 day at a local yocal hack service and half way up the tree i saw the company's local hacker tossing baby squirrels into the chipper:jawdrop: . i got so mad i smoked down and slapped his head off the chipper. he got nine staples in the head and i quit. whata blood bath! the only thing i could of done to make the situation better was give him nine more i respect all of natures creatures and i have encounters all most daily,the only one iv ever had a problem with is man.

 

[Canyonbc]

i did a 1/2 day at a local yocal hack service and half way up the tree i saw the company's local hacker tossing baby squirrels into the chipper:jawdrop: . i got so mad i smoked down and slapped his head off the chipper. he got nine staples in the head and i quit. whata blood bath! the only thing i could of done to make the situation better was give him nine more i respect all of natures creatures and i have encounters all most daily,the only one iv ever had a problem with is man.

No way.

Are people that f****ed up...are they??

 

[(WLL)]

No way.

Are people that f****ed up...are they??

they r!! with all the bullchips in this world that is just a mild case of f****ed up

 

[(WLL)]

one job we were removing lg poplars for a pasture or preacher of some sort,and we came across a family of 3 raccoon's the most beautiful i ever saw. they were flawless!! my words cant even describe. i knocked on the door and told the owner. his first words were kill em all:jawdrop: he walked back to see and had not changed his mind. to make a long story short the crew had many strong things to say, one of which got the police involved related to preachers and children:jawdrop: . well we were kicked off the job and conveniently finished cleaning up just after animal control showed. I'm glad the animals were moved to a better home, the bs holy man was cited and enforcement was on our side.

 

[Canyonbc]

I thought there was hope for society has a whole...maybe i was wrong.