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cormorants do not go to inland wooded areas and a goshawk is grey.</P& --Boundary_(ID_VJM4k55AfXUZu+hXO7oqzA) Content-type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252; format=flowed; delsp=yes Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable Sounds like en enraged raven. Ravin' mad, he was! On Aug 6, 2008, at 5:58 AM, Chris Callaghan/Andy Moir wrote: > 'Damn big bird' giving some South Shore folks a fright > Enormous winged creature rushes, swoops at Crousetown residents > By BEVERLEY WARE South Shore Bureau > Wed. Aug 6 - 5:04 AM > Myles Rafuse carries a big stick on his daily walks after a "damn =20 > big bird" came at him during a recent stroll after church. > > "I had quite an experience with it, I tell you," said the Crousetown =20= > resident who turns 80 in a couple of weeks. > > In fact, he wasn=92t the only one to have a close encounter with the =20= > jet black bird. > > "It was enormous really," said Goldie Stewart, who said the bird =20 > barely missed her scalp as it swooped down at her while she was =20 > hanging out laundry. > > "Maybe it was after my white hair," chuckled the 73-year-old. > > Mr. Rafuse was the first to have a close encounter with the =20 > gargantuan bird about a month ago. He was walking on a dirt road =20 > near his home southwest of Bridgewater after church on a Sunday. > > "I was going along and it got kind of warm so I took my jacket off =20 > and carried it over my arm." > > Then he heard something in the woods along the side of the road. =20 > "This huge bird come at me on the road and made a rush at me." > > He said it was black as coal and stood "at least two feet high and =20 > it was wide. . . . The only thing that saved me from not getting =20 > tangled up was I kept hitting it with my jacket." He said he ran =20 > backwards because he was afraid to turn his back on the bird. > > He said the bird never flew, it just ran at him from the side of the =20= > road making a "howling like" noise with its wings partially out from =20= > its body. Then it suddenly turned and ran back into the woods. > > "The damn thing could move quite swiftly," but Mr. Rafuse said in =20 > that moment he moved pretty quickly, too. "It was kind of scary for =20= > a while." > > He hasn=92t been up that road since and now carries a 1.5-metre-long =20= > stick with him on his daily walks. > > About a week after that happened, Mrs. Stewart said she was in her =20 > driveway hanging out laundry when a massive black bird swooped down =20= > so close she felt the rush of the air from its wings on top of her =20 > head. > > "If he would have put his claws down he would have struck the top of =20= > my head. I just stopped, it scared me so." > > It made a crying-like sound, she said. "It was weird." > > Initial reports were that it could have been a raven, a cormorant or =20= > a northern goshawk. Randy Milton is acting director of wildlife for =20= > the provincial Department of Natural Resources. He said it sounds =20 > too big to be a raven, cormorants do not go to inland wooded areas =20 > and a goshawk is grey. > > Given its size and the fact the bird ran at him, Mr. Milton said it =20= > could be a turkey. "People have released turkeys in the province, =20 > not legally." > > They are not true wild turkeys, but a variant of a domestic turkey. =20= > "That is the only thing I could possibly think of that size," Mr. =20 > Milton said. > > A goshawk has more stealth and would attack from the rear, and =20 > neither a raven nor a cormorant would come running at someone from =20 > the ground. > > "Turkeys can run quite fast," and Mr. Milton said they can fly and =20 > do roost in trees. > > For his part, Mr. Rafuse said the behemoth black bird hasn=92t been =20= > spotted since Mrs. Stewart stood in her driveway and watched it fly =20= > off over a brook. But he hasn=92t been back to that road since. "I =20 > don=92t really want to unless I know it=92s gone." > > Crousetown is a small rural community about 15 kilometres south of =20 > Bridgewater > --Boundary_(ID_VJM4k55AfXUZu+hXO7oqzA) Content-type: text/html; charset=WINDOWS-1252 Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable <html><body style=3D"word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; = -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Sounds like en enraged raven. = Ravin' mad, he was!<div><br><div><div>On Aug 6, 2008, at 5:58 AM, = Chris Callaghan/Andy Moir wrote:</div><br = class=3D"Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type=3D"cite"><span = class=3D"Apple-style-span" style=3D"border-collapse: separate; color: = rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Times; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; = font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; = line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; = text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; = -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: = 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: = auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0; "><div bgcolor=3D"#ffffff"><div><font = face=3D"Arial" size=3D"2"><font face=3D"Times New Roman" size=3D"3">'Damn = big bird' giving some South Shore folks a fright<br><font = class=3D"Content_Sub_Headlines">Enormous winged creature rushes, swoops = at Crousetown residents</font><br><font class=3D"byline">By BEVERLEY = WARE South Shore Bureau</font><br><font class=3D"byline">Wed. Aug 6 - = 5:04 AM</font><br></font><font class=3D"Content_body-links"><p>Myles = Rafuse carries a big stick on his daily walks after a "damn big bird" = came at him during a recent stroll after church.</p><p>"I had quite an = experience with it, I tell you," said the Crousetown resident who turns = 80 in a couple of weeks.</p><p>In fact, he wasn=92t the only one to have = a close encounter with the jet black bird.</p><p>"It was enormous = really," said Goldie Stewart, who said the bird barely missed her scalp = as it swooped down at her while she was hanging out = laundry.</p><p>"Maybe it was after my white hair," chuckled the = 73-year-old.</p><p>Mr. Rafuse was the first to have a close encounter = with the gargantuan bird about a month ago. He was walking on a dirt = road near his home southwest of Bridgewater after church on a = Sunday.</p><p>"I was going along and it got kind of warm so I took my = jacket off and carried it over my arm."</p><p>Then he heard something in = the woods along the side of the road. "This huge bird come at me on the = road and made a rush at me."</p><p>He said it was black as coal and = stood "at least two feet high and it was wide. . . . The only thing that = saved me fro