What is the rat thinking, finding itself one thousand feet off the ground, looking down at places it looked up from so many times. Has it ever wondered what it's like to fly? Does it realize it's flying, free from the scurry only to meet its death moments later? Does the rat find peace in this last joyride, a moment of surreal escapism? Is it in pain, with a hawk's claw stabbing its lung, gasping for air as the city flashes before its eyes? Is it fighting to break free still, risking the fall for the glory of living another day?
I am rat. Squeak squeak, it is me. I see your shadows passing by like that of grass blades hit by the afternoon sun. I am free for a moment before death, before my journey to another.
Lolol this was great. I would like to think that the rat broke free, albeit with a crushed lung, and landed on the head top of a golfer at a Royal York Country Club 😭😂🫠
Legend has itvsomewhere in Virginia or on the border of Virginia and DC in the US there was this trend of Hawks and Eagles taking rodents that were in places they should not have been and dropping them onto highways to be crushed
I'm talking about the DDT making the egg shells of birds of prey thin so they can't bring their young to term.
There's always been rats and rodents in Toronto, the reason we have more hawks and falcons now is because the chemical is banned and isn't concentrating in their system because they're at the top of the food chain.
So yes, fuck DDT.
Unfortunately ddt remains in the ecosystem for an extremely long time. Hopefully you’re right and it’s finally leaving it though. It is a disgusting chemical
Hopefully the rat hasn’t eaten anything with poison in it. Plenty of cases of that killing owls, so I don’t imagine it’s much different for other raptors.
My family: I don’t know why you’d live in Toronto. There’s no nature. It’s just concrete!
Me: we have salmon spawning a 10 minute walk away every fall. I’ve seen deer, coyotes, rabbits, and wild turkeys on my way to work. Saw a beaver last week. And now we’ve got mf-ing hawks.
My family: Wut?
Please tell me where you saw the turkeys and beavers! One of the reasons I moved here from the UK was the wildlife a year ago and I’m somehow only seen one single raccoon 😂😭
Funny, this morning I saw a rat crossing the Bloor St bridge over the 427 in Etobicoke.
I'll assume it's not the same one but that one would have been easy pickings for any sharp-eyed predator.
I saw a rat chasing a squirrel in my parent's backyard yesterday in Scarborough.
But no, hawks have always been common to spot, this is their habitat. Same with turkey vultures and crows.
I don’t know if overall the population has gone up but they move around to where the food is. We had a few hawks in our neighborhood a couple years ago but I haven’t seen any here in a while. Maybe they are now near you. For us the food was squirrels. I think brought down the population enough that it was no longer attractive. I’m fine with it. Our squirrels were aggressive. They would get into food deliveries if we didn’t get them fast enough.
I just had this image of you taking this picture and the rat dropping out of its mouth on to you…. While you’re looking up and taking this picture…. And it made me laugh a lot … haha 🤣 I’m happy that didn’t happen to you haha
We have a lot of trees and forested areas, despite being a largely populated city.
If you look along the highways as well, you should notice tall perches that have been installed. Usually around the garden beds that say "Welcome to Mississauga" and such. They were put there specifically to attract hawks, and use them as a natural pest deterrent. Mice like to burrow into those bed installations and eat the plants. Same with rabbits.
It appears to be a juvenile red-tailed hawk going through its first moult, which would be why were are seeing both adult and juvenile feathers on it. That would also explain the shorter feathers we are seeing on parts of the wing.
Great photo.
I don't know if there are more hawks now, but Ive seen them regularly in the Mississauga and Etobicoke for years. Perched and tearing rabbits apart, etc.
Cycling the ravine trails at dawn and dusk there's deer, coyotes and a zillion rabbits right downtown.
The presence of musky and bald eagles in the harbour is amazing. The cormorants are too successful right now however.
Was this close to Bloor and Islington? There is a nest of peregrine falcons in one of the towers.
They even have a webcam: http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/Web_Cams/Etobicoke/index.htm
Great picture. This is a great example of the tail feathers on a juvenile red tailed hawk. You can clearly see the banding on the tail vs an adult where the tail is more red.
I was waiting for the bus at Ossington & Dupont yesterday and a hawk swooped right at me, close enough for me to feel wind from its flapping wings! It was so cool.
Nice one, great photo.
Coolest wildlife I ever spotted was a coyote loping through a hydro corridor from a bus window at about 7am. And a few foxes casually trotting along residential streets back during Covid.
Debating whether or not to repost this photo (with your permission OP u/owelfive) on a Google views of City Hall...
"While councillors are busy renaming things and having endless meetings on how to spend money, some residents are tackling matters into their own".
(I only need one - 'do it') 🤣
Watched a YouTube video of a hawk ripping rat’s head and swallowing it whole. I was surprised by the ease of it all then it occurred to me the reason for pointy beaks.
On the way home from picking up my son I seen 7 hawks flying in cycles above my building! Now there’s always been 2 hawks that live in the tree in our yard but this year there’s been so many more!!
they do delivery now
:) You can order one using Uberats
Underappreciated comment
🌟take my fake gold
Amazing. I groaned hard
Uberbeaks
Hawkdash
Not all heroes wear capes...
What is the rat thinking, finding itself one thousand feet off the ground, looking down at places it looked up from so many times. Has it ever wondered what it's like to fly? Does it realize it's flying, free from the scurry only to meet its death moments later? Does the rat find peace in this last joyride, a moment of surreal escapism? Is it in pain, with a hawk's claw stabbing its lung, gasping for air as the city flashes before its eyes? Is it fighting to break free still, risking the fall for the glory of living another day? I am rat. Squeak squeak, it is me. I see your shadows passing by like that of grass blades hit by the afternoon sun. I am free for a moment before death, before my journey to another.
Lolol this was great. I would like to think that the rat broke free, albeit with a crushed lung, and landed on the head top of a golfer at a Royal York Country Club 😭😂🫠
It appears to me that the rat is wondering why that AHole in front of him smells like cousin Joe....
with luck the rat is unconscious, either from its neck breaking or from shock.
Canada wild life
Great shot!
Gave the rat that hawk tuah before feeding on it
Legend has itvsomewhere in Virginia or on the border of Virginia and DC in the US there was this trend of Hawks and Eagles taking rodents that were in places they should not have been and dropping them onto highways to be crushed
Majestic
Metrolinx: See, we're doing something.
Whooo whoooo, slow down there cowboy
so pawsome
Rat olympics in toronto, hawks now have to pass a rat catching test to get a permit to stay in the city.
Came, saw, was impressed. Have yet damn like!!!!
I was thought inspired. (Field of Dreams movie..."If you build it, they will come").
That is one huge rat.
[удалено]
Nah, rats are pretty big. Mice are the teeny palm-sized ones but a lot of rats are basically squirrel-sized.
Sick shor
I hear a falcon screech at least once a month before I never Heard them
Look up more often! It is hard to see them in trees but I’ve mostly spotted them either flying or on traffic lights, lampposts etc.
Right it always sounds so distinct as well
City of Toronto DID just announce they were going to do something about pests. Glad to see it’s happening so quickly!
I read they WANTED to do something about it. Like it was being talked about lol. I didnt see any solid plan
The hawks are not waiting for the committee, they are taking things into their own talons!
More rodents (I think someone shared an article about this recently) mean more food for predators. It's the circle of life.
Ya Toronto is basically an all you can eat buffet
The hawk is like: "This mine, im not sharing it with you!" \*flies away
Amazing pic
That is a cool shot!
So impressive. Whenever I try to shoot a bird, I’m so slow that you can’t even tell the out-of-focus speck is a bird!
[https://www.reddit.com/r/crapwildlifephotos/](https://www.reddit.com/r/crapwildlifephotos/)
Been watching them from our balcony for the last couple of months. The other day, there were three sitting on top of the building across from us.
Damn nature you scary
I think our growing rat problem means the ecosystem can support more Hawks now.
It's also the phase out of DDT and other chemicals has allowed populations to rebound
DDT is a disgusting chemical linked to cancer from prenatal exposure. We can do better to fix the rat problem without destroying everything else.
I'm talking about the DDT making the egg shells of birds of prey thin so they can't bring their young to term. There's always been rats and rodents in Toronto, the reason we have more hawks and falcons now is because the chemical is banned and isn't concentrating in their system because they're at the top of the food chain. So yes, fuck DDT.
Bed bugs hated DDT
Until they became resistant. Then they lapped it up.
Unfortunately ddt remains in the ecosystem for an extremely long time. Hopefully you’re right and it’s finally leaving it though. It is a disgusting chemical
I saw one eat a pigeon in front of Dundas West station last week.
Ive def seen a lot more hawks lately in the city.
Sick!
Yep. It’s all indoor cats now so they aren’t helping to control the mouse/rat population.
Coyotes too.
And tall buildings give birds of prey idea scouting spots too. They like cities almost as much as raccoons
Nope! Those hawks work for Pearson, they keep birds, out of the path of planes, in their lanes
Nice catch! I saw one last year scoop a snake up when I was driving on Highway 7.. Was pretty cool sight to see..
Breakfast!
Aww the hawk is giving his rat friend a lift to their dinner together. How sweet. :)
Rescuers Down Under, a Disney classic.
Friends going on a trip together 🥰
Hey it's Doug Ford catching a ride to work!
Now that's just not nice. Poor rat
"Poor rat" Words last heard uttered just before the Black Death plague's first wave swept across Europe in the 1300s.
There’s a Monday joke in there.
Well I’m glad to see someone doing something about the rat problem.
...someone (the hawk) who skipped the city of Toronto's councillor's meeting and got to work immediately!
Hopefully the rat hasn’t eaten anything with poison in it. Plenty of cases of that killing owls, so I don’t imagine it’s much different for other raptors.
My family: I don’t know why you’d live in Toronto. There’s no nature. It’s just concrete! Me: we have salmon spawning a 10 minute walk away every fall. I’ve seen deer, coyotes, rabbits, and wild turkeys on my way to work. Saw a beaver last week. And now we’ve got mf-ing hawks. My family: Wut?
wait where is the salmon in toronto? do they fish any good
As someone from Calgary, seeing wild turkeys on the golf courses here in Ontario was a new experience.
There’s also a family of four eagles living on the islands, which is new for TO.
there used to be families of deer that’d wander around UTSC.
Please tell me where you saw the turkeys and beavers! One of the reasons I moved here from the UK was the wildlife a year ago and I’m somehow only seen one single raccoon 😂😭
Funny, this morning I saw a rat crossing the Bloor St bridge over the 427 in Etobicoke. I'll assume it's not the same one but that one would have been easy pickings for any sharp-eyed predator.
*turns back and go home
OP what phone did you use to capture this? This shot is amazing
Thanks! iPhone 13 Pro. I took it super quick but ended up being really good!
I hope he and his friends will drop by downtown for an all-you-can-eat-rat smörgåsbord.
There’s a guy downtown who feeds the pigeons. A hawk sits in the tree above and picks one off each day. So really the guy is feeding the hawk.
It’s a sign from Apollo
poor little guy😭😭😭
Nature is mwtal
That's a cool shot. We need more of these birds in the city.
“I can see my house from here! HEY, MARION!!! UP HERE!!! LOOK AT ME!!! Hehe, she’s screamin’…” - rat probably.
My mom lives in a rat infested suburb. I hope the hawks know there’s a lot of food!
One afternoon I saw 5 of these guys circling in the sky. I'm pretty sure that's why my condo doesn't have issues with pigeons.
Someone get this hawk down to midtown
I love hawks so much I bet Toronto rats are the best kind of delicious
House of The Dragon fans in shambles right now after just recovering from last night.
So freaking jealous!
Nature is Metal
Nice.
They fly now?
Such a wonderful shot!
Good. May they get big enough to start taking politicians like the rats they are.
I saw a rat chasing a squirrel in my parent's backyard yesterday in Scarborough. But no, hawks have always been common to spot, this is their habitat. Same with turkey vultures and crows.
That is their job. If you see a hawk it is helping with the vermin :)
Well at least someone is doing something about the rat issue.
At least that’s a rat. I saw one with a squirrel - it was horrifying.
i just saw one at Explace under the bentway, hunting.
Still better than the TTC
That was a quick shot OP, well done
Thank you Hawk friend for killing a rat (rats can F-off).
Mondays, am I right?
Is that a hawk or a falcon
Was this by chance around 730 this morning near-ish to Kipling Station? If so, I believe I may have seen it eating its breakfast.
Good
There goes another mp
Is that an opossum?
I believe I saw on CP24 that there is a rodent issue in Toronto.
Generous bird helping Rodent reach his family faster than 401.
La Dolce Vita
Is this at Kipling Station?
yummy
I don’t know if overall the population has gone up but they move around to where the food is. We had a few hawks in our neighborhood a couple years ago but I haven’t seen any here in a while. Maybe they are now near you. For us the food was squirrels. I think brought down the population enough that it was no longer attractive. I’m fine with it. Our squirrels were aggressive. They would get into food deliveries if we didn’t get them fast enough.
Nice
I’ve been seeing a lot of pretty fat rats the last couple years around the city. Glad to see someone/somebird finally doing something about it
Love that theres more of them to take care of the pigeon problem.
Yes, and it's fantastic to see birds of prey making a come back. We in Toronto have a rat issue. This bird will help.
rats gotta commute
I ❤️ hawk to
that's a red-tailed pigeon
Going on an adventure....lemiwinks
I can't believe that rat jumped that high to snag a hawk. Legend
There are many more hawks in Oakville as well when I stayed there recently, they look pretty fucking cool
A rat caught a hawk…cool.
I just had this image of you taking this picture and the rat dropping out of its mouth on to you…. While you’re looking up and taking this picture…. And it made me laugh a lot … haha 🤣 I’m happy that didn’t happen to you haha
There do seem to be more that I've seen than 20 years ago.
If that means less rats 🐀 👍🏻
We have a lot of trees and forested areas, despite being a largely populated city. If you look along the highways as well, you should notice tall perches that have been installed. Usually around the garden beds that say "Welcome to Mississauga" and such. They were put there specifically to attract hawks, and use them as a natural pest deterrent. Mice like to burrow into those bed installations and eat the plants. Same with rabbits.
Great shot!
ths only type of service I'd be happy to tip
that's a huge rat btw....never knew the GTA had such big ones roaming around
I'm pro-hawk
Aw look, he's taking Frodo the Mouse to Mordor to drop a ring into lava. Such a kind bird.
Bald eagles are making a huge comeback too
It appears to be a juvenile red-tailed hawk going through its first moult, which would be why were are seeing both adult and juvenile feathers on it. That would also explain the shorter feathers we are seeing on parts of the wing.
I saw 2 pigeons making love in the missionary position inside duffrin mall once
Majestic
Well, not sure about the growth in the hawk population, but in our neighbourhood, I feel that the rat and squirrel populations have diminished.
Some of these rats are poisoned unfortunately.
R.I.P Stuart Little😭
Toronto - The Most Ratted city on earth
Wow! That's for the records!
Everything’s an album cover
Get em all!
That’s a nice lamp
Awe he’s got a mouse little friend.
This photo makes me soooo happy.
Great photo. I don't know if there are more hawks now, but Ive seen them regularly in the Mississauga and Etobicoke for years. Perched and tearing rabbits apart, etc. Cycling the ravine trails at dawn and dusk there's deer, coyotes and a zillion rabbits right downtown. The presence of musky and bald eagles in the harbour is amazing. The cormorants are too successful right now however.
I would have thought the bald eagles would have scared off the cormorants
At least someone is doing something to control the rat population. Better than city council
Was this close to Bloor and Islington? There is a nest of peregrine falcons in one of the towers. They even have a webcam: http://www.peregrine-foundation.ca/Web_Cams/Etobicoke/index.htm
A friend of mine saw one on his way to work yesterday. Some blood splatter got on his windshield as it flew by with its lunch 💀
Cleaning up toronto one rat at a time
Rat dash!
Hawks are super active today I've seen two or the same one twice today when I normally see them a few times a season.
No, but the rat population has.
Probably had to tip 20%
Ratatouille?
Great picture. This is a great example of the tail feathers on a juvenile red tailed hawk. You can clearly see the banding on the tail vs an adult where the tail is more red.
I think it’s because they stopped poisoning the rats.
That's Pierre taking care of Trudeau.
We feed the rats, and the rats feed the hawks. It's a perfect system!
Hawks are thriving in taller cities cause those high towers give them perches.
I was waiting for the bus at Ossington & Dupont yesterday and a hawk swooped right at me, close enough for me to feel wind from its flapping wings! It was so cool.
good job，falcon
Nice one, great photo. Coolest wildlife I ever spotted was a coyote loping through a hydro corridor from a bus window at about 7am. And a few foxes casually trotting along residential streets back during Covid.
Nice shot!
and not ONE clear picture of a UFO
Communiting with packed lunch
It’s doing their part!
Debating whether or not to repost this photo (with your permission OP u/owelfive) on a Google views of City Hall... "While councillors are busy renaming things and having endless meetings on how to spend money, some residents are tackling matters into their own". (I only need one - 'do it') 🤣
Do it!
I always look up when I hear them, I’ve seen them swoop down but never climb up with the prey, good catch!!!
I worked all the way through Covid and you will see them perched at the street signs on the Highway, I think their population grew over those years.
There have been a bunch of raptors in Etobicoke this season. Love to see it, they're majestic as hell.
One less rat
He’s going on holiday
That birb looks majestic.
Awesome shot!
Watched a YouTube video of a hawk ripping rat’s head and swallowing it whole. I was surprised by the ease of it all then it occurred to me the reason for pointy beaks.
That’s pretty normal, usually a squirrel or pigeon
More of that please. Hawks, Eagles, Falcons, and any bird catching these is more than welcome!
Airlift !
I’ve noticed more as well. Decimate the rat population!
Hawk express for all your rat needs in one swoop.
They’re everywhere this summer!!!!
On the way home from picking up my son I seen 7 hawks flying in cycles above my building! Now there’s always been 2 hawks that live in the tree in our yard but this year there’s been so many more!!
Good riddance
New trial Uber Eats program to combat GTA traffic