Just to lightem todays rather serious mood.

I was having a tinker around in Funkleton's Inventing Shed (birthplace of several (mostly failed) prototypes of my patent pending Lobsterizer) this afternoon, when I heard a terrific squawking commotion outside.

I looked out to see a large and impressive Peregrine Falcon with its talons buried in a pigeon.

I was under the impression that they were more or less extinct in the UK what with illegal egg collectors, poisons and pesticides - but apparently they've made a huge comeback in the last 10 years, particularly in my area.

I'm no bird watching enthusiast but I couldn't fail to be in awe of this supreme Predator - and I bloody hate pigeons.

Well, finding bird heads in odd places can get old. Still, if it means fewer squirrels and rabbits raiding my parents' garden, go, Falcons and Hawks, go!

Hahahahahhaha!!!

Now we'll find out who reads the OP or not.

Falcons don't bother me too much.

But those pesky Ospreys on the other hand have seen off two of my uncles, a cousin and first wife.

Baaa

I really wanna know what a Lobsterizer is

I really wanna know what a Lobsterizer is

Me too.

As to the Falcons. They've been making a comeback over the last 10-15 years here in the states. So either the same is happening there or perhaps they are migrating over or even being imported.

Better see if they have a passport or not.

I really wanna know what a Lobsterizer is

It's a modified litter picker that I use to catch lobsters when I'm diving

well that's the idea anyway - still haven't quite found a way to make it work more reliably than a stick

It's a modified litter picker that I use to catch lobsters when I'm diving

I thought that said "when I'm driving" and was even more confused...

I really wanna know what a Lobsterizer is

It's a modified litter picker that I use to catch lobsters when I'm diving

well that's the idea anyway - still haven't quite found a way to make it work more reliably than a stick

Given the name of the gadget, and your profile pic, I was really hoping it was something to speed up the change from human to Deep One. Sad day...

My dream in life is to be a peregrine falcon and to hunt pigeons, seagulls, and ducks with superior air to air combat tactics. Such a wonderful sight. I used to work at a raptor rehabilitation center, so I'm bird of prey crazy. Saw a great-horned owl, 6 red tailed hawks, and a cooper's hawk today, but falcons are a rare sight here.

Did you just call Darth Vader a pigeon?

We had a Torenvalk (a European bird of prey, type of falcon) in our neighbourhood a few years ago. I dubbed him "Voodoo falcon" on account of it leaving the remains of it's prey in weird arangements. stuff like:

A pile of half digested corn kernels inside a perfect circle of small feathers, and

The severed head of a pigeon, with it's eyes pecked out, hanging in the branches of our backyard tree.

Some freaky sh*t, man!

Oh a kestrel, very cool. They can see UV light which enables them to see urine trails of small mammals in order to hunt them. And they can hover. They're pretty sweet.

Not if they make you wonder some demented pigeon killing psychopath has been in your back yard, they are not

I didn't know about teh UV vison part. Nice!

Regularly have a kestrel hovering over a field nearby, nicely visible from my desk. I'm easily distracted and it doesn't help in that respect, but what lovely a sight.

Regularly have a kestrel hovering over a field nearby, nicely visible from my desk. I'm easily distracted and it doesn't help in that respect, but what lovely a sight.

We have kestrels in the US, quite a bit smaller than European common kestrels, but similar in coloration and behavior. I once took a drive through Illinois in late spring, and counted over two dozen hovering kestrels in the strips of grass between the freeway lanes. It was pretty awesome. I do a lot of birding from my car, for better or worse.

I sense the foundations for a new flight path game. Falcons vs. Hawks: Birds of Prey .. I can't see the pigeon expansion being a big seller though.

Get the pigeon!

I sense the foundations for a new flight path game. Falcons vs. Hawks: Birds of Prey .. I can't see the pigeon expansion being a big seller though.

I already mentioned working on this in another thread. If I had the people to sculpt the minis, I would have the game out shortly. I know all the stats for all the raptors. I would have different fantasy factions based on terrain which produces different kinds of raptors, and there would be unique bird cards with special abilities.

Can I have a Shrike?

Can I have a Shrike?

I wasn't planning on including shrikes because they're too small. Honestly, the smallest I would go would probably be a merlin, unless the objective is to kill other birds like songbirds and collect dead birds or something, then I'd include shrikes.

Peregrine Falcon, all the way!

Or the more obstinate variety, the iPeregrine.

Actually, I've figured out how to do this game. It would be raptors weighing over a pound as the smallest viable, so Merlins and Common Kestrels and Sparrowhawks/Cooper's Hawks would be the lightest. The game would use templates like the ones in X-wing, and dials, but in order to attack, you would have to be overlapping the enemy. So a bump is an attack. Each bird would have an arc, like you have on templates, so if you bump arc to arc, you both get to attack, but if you bump out of arc, the one in arc attacks. This simulates hitting from behind and the side quite nicely I feel like. The different species of birds would have unique dials. So, the Peregrine Falcon would have higher speed maneuvers than say the Goshawk, but the Goshawk would have a 1-hard, which the peregrine wouldn't have. And I'd do the dials based completely on the actual flying abilities of the birds in question. I'd throw in named birds for fun, with special abilities. And instead of asteroids, there would be trees. Trees would favor the goshawks, which are able to fly through cover with ease (so imagine plotting through an asteroid without penalty), and because they would have hard 1s which falcons wouldn't, playing in the trees would favor them. But like in real life, in the open air, the falcons would fly circles around the goshawks in high speed maneuvering. I'd have boost and barrel roll as well. And I'd include things like forest falcons (Karearea) which mix some of the accipiter and falcon traits, same with the Aplomado falcon. And, of course, I'd include buzzards like the red-tailed hawk, and the common buzzard, which would not be as fast or as agile as the falcons and accipiters, but which would hit harder owing to their stronger feet, and which would have higher hit points.

Yeah, I've got too much time on my hands thanks to spring break...

Well I really could care less about Fat Han..... Oh wait we're talking birds?

WW's post says it all.