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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
 Posted - 06/16/2005 : 21:21:03 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by woolytoad
Damn I liked my answer :)
Large Alaskan predator ... wolves? Do they eat fish though? I thought they were more of a deer caribou eater. So wolves eating fish is not common. I don't think large carnivores breaking windows is common at all.
Moose? Or some large deer type animal? Perhaps rummaging in the trash. A salmon carcass getting caught on its antlers. Antlers crash into windows in an attempt to get it off?
Very creative guesses, wooly, but I'm afraid you haven't got it yet.
Consider what was broken. That's the key. |
"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 06/16/2005 21:24:26 |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2005 : 01:13:51 [Permalink]
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| Is this the story where the neighbor witnessed a couple of critters fighting over the fish and then the one with the fish crashing through the window? |
"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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woolytoad
Skeptic Friend
313 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2005 : 01:43:19 [Permalink]
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quote:
Very creative guesses, wooly, but I'm afraid you haven't got it yet.
Oops. I shouldn't have hit quote, I saw a hint. My knowledge of native Alaskan wildlife is spotty at best. I still cannot think of why some animal would just crash into the window (other than birds).
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2005 : 01:53:44 [Permalink]
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quote:
Large Alaskan predator ... wolves? Do they eat fish though? I thought they were more of a deer caribou eater. So wolves eating fish is not common. I don't think large carnivores breaking windows is common at all.
Wolves will scavenge fish. But their diets are as stated; mainly deer, caribou, and other mammals. In season, they depend heavily on small rodents such as mice and lemmings.
I came within an ace of getting this, but what I came up with seemed so unlikely that I finally said "forkit," and looked. And then kicked myself. No cigar by any means, but pretty close. 
It's a really neat answer, and I'm pretty sure I know why it happened. 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 06/17/2005 02:38:55 |
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Tim
SFN Regular
USA
775 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2005 : 08:22:38 [Permalink]
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I suffer from a very human affliction while troubleshooting equipment at work--Tunnel vision.
I'm told about a specific problem, or witness a certain sympton. Because I've seen the problem, or a similar one, many times before, I tend to focus on a particular part of a system. For many reasons, the problem may not be in that part of the system, but I wouldn't know it. I'm too busy chasing my initial assumption.
After I reach the point of complete frustration, I step back, take a break, think about something completely unrelated, and then start all over again. I find the problem, repair it and then bitch for several hours about my inability to see the big picture.
In the case of this fish, I think that a few have gotten caught up in a limited veiw of 'large predator.' The problem isn't familiarity of Northwestern wildlife, but rather limited representation.
I'm not trying to preach or hijack H.s thread. I simply find the parallel's very similar to the problems I encounter in everyday life.
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"We got an issue in America. Too many good docs are gettin' out of business. Too many OB/GYNs aren't able to practice their -- their love with women all across this country." Dubya in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 9/6/2004
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2005 : 10:44:04 [Permalink]
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Yeah, you're right Tim.
I took a few guesses, and finally read the article.... was narrowing it down, but didn't get it before my curiosity overwhelmed me.
Not to spoil it for anyone still trying to figure it out, but "large predator" fits the bill, just not as large as a bear :)
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2005 : 11:12:33 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dude
Yeah, you're right Tim.
I took a few guesses, and finally read the article.... was narrowing it down, but didn't get it before my curiosity overwhelmed me.
Not to spoil it for anyone still trying to figure it out, but "large predator" fits the bill, just not as large as a bear :)
I had the animal responsible correct; I just failed to think it through far enough. Knowing a little about the creature's natural history and it's relationship to others of it's species, It should have been at least half-obvious.
If it pleases the court, I shall elaborate when the culpret is finally, positivly ID'd.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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| Edited by - filthy on 06/18/2005 11:17:31 |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 06/18/2005 : 11:47:07 [Permalink]
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Well, it seems to be on the tip of wooly's tongue. I say we give him one more shot. Then I'd be interested to hear filthy's run down. I always learn something new from him.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
| Edited by - H. Humbert on 06/18/2005 11:48:50 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2005 : 03:02:40 [Permalink]
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Well, it's been a couple of days and no action, so I guess everyone's had a peek. The answer is: an American Bald Eagle crashed through the window whilst carrying the remains of a salmon.
I had the eagle; where I hung up on it was with the fish. An adult eagle can't carry much over three or four pounds, and a 24 inch salmon (no other fish fits the description or the local at this time of year) will weigh considerably more than that, even sans head. On the other hand, a desiccated, 24'' skeleton wouldn't weigh enough to have the momentum to break the glass at eagle speeds. It never occurred to Big Dummy, who thought that the fish was simply dropped in a panic, that fish, fowl, and the whole shootin' match might have come through the window like some deranged, feathered garbage truck.
This bird was either a juvenile or a very young adult, most likely the latter.
So, as promised, here briefly is the how and why of it.
“LET THE EAGLE SORE!”
I believe that was a famous Johnny Ashcroft song..... 
First and quickly, a little natural history.
Bald eagles are the most spectacular of the world's fish eagles, and only found on the North American continent. As the family name implies, the mainstay of their diet is fish, which they catch in the same way as an osprey; a fast -- as much as 100 MPH -- stoop (dive) and grab the shallow-swimming prey in talons as strong as a jaw trap. Once in a while they might snatch something too heavy, and have to clumsily swim to shore with it. They do this by using their wings as great, flopping paddles; a sacrifice of dignity in favor of lunch.
They also take small mammals, and are almost as dedicated scavengers of carrion as any vulture.
These birds do not flock, however during seasons such as the annual salmon run they will roost in a community at a likely spot to take advantage of the wealth of fish migrating to their spawning beds. They will also winter in a community, misery enjoying company, near open water.
Like any raptor, they mate for life. They return to the same nest each year and add to it, making it ultimately into a huge, ramshackle construct that might weigh a ton or more. A typical nest will have from one to four eggs with two being the average. If there are more, still only two of the chicks will likely survive due to the prodigious amounts of food they require, and in a lean year; only one. The parent birds are devoted to their family and will fight off anything approaching the nest, including wolverines and optimistic ornithologists.
In the field, bald eagles might live for some thirty years or so, and in captivity as long as fifty.
Our story begins when the chick leaves the nest, descending from a pampered eaglet to a wretched creature at the bottom of a ridged pecking order that some don't survive. The aforementioned communities are comprised of birds that have been roosting together for years and have long established their dominance system. The juvenile will find itself perching on the poorest branches, exposed to the winds, and not yet being a skilled fisher, regulated to scavenging the leftovers of it's elders and whatever potluck it might be fortunate enough to stumble across. And even then, if it should find something actually desirable, that might be taken away from it by the older birds. It will even be driven off the carcass of a large animal such as a deer, and forced to wait until all the rest have fed. And even then, it might be chivvied and bullied away, only able to snatch a quick bite now and then.
This is a very harsh system that produces some very strong birds.
I think that our eagle was a young adult, perhaps 5 years old, newly wearing it's adult plumage, and still low on the social totem pole. I think that it was desperately fleeing an older bird(s) with it's prize find of well-gnawed, salmon remains. The reason I think that it was not a juvenile is that a juvie would probably have abandoned the fish and |
"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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woolytoad
Skeptic Friend
313 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2005 : 04:08:30 [Permalink]
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| Arrrrrgh ... I would never have thought of that. :( |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 06/20/2005 : 06:48:34 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by woolytoad
Arrrrrgh ... I would never have thought of that. :(
But you did think of it:quote:
I still cannot think of why some animal would just crash into the window (other than birds).
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- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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H. Humbert
SFN Die Hard
USA
4574 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2005 : 14:16:15 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by filthy
A great riddle, Double H -- Give us another!
I was thinking that if people liked the idea of posting news items as riddles to be solved (with the appropriate details omitted for mystery), then perhaps this thread could serve as a place to post others.
It is suprisingly difficult to find new stories that lend themselves to this type of exercise, however. Anyone who stumbles across anything that they think would work are welcome to post here. I would also enjoy an opportunity to try my hand at guessing as well.
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"A man is his own easiest dupe, for what he wishes to be true he generally believes to be true." --Demosthenes
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool." --Richard P. Feynman
"Face facts with dignity." --found inside a fortune cookie |
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woolytoad
Skeptic Friend
313 Posts |
Posted - 06/21/2005 : 17:08:12 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
quote:
Originally posted by woolytoad
Arrrrrgh ... I would never have thought of that. :(
But you did think of it:quote:
I still cannot think of why some animal would just crash into the window (other than birds).
I did too. Chalk one up to tunnel vision.  |
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