Yesterday I was walking home eating an ice cream cone... (and anyone who knows me knows I love ice cream cones, especially the blue bunny drumsticks), when I was suddenly and rudely startled. 

I was walking with my fiance and his friend on our way off base carrying groceries.  By the time we walked by bldg 3213, I had eaten the chocolate topping off my drumstick.  It was delicious, thinking to myself "...chocolate nut topping with vanilla filled center... can't wait to get to the vanilla..." basically i was thinking about how I was going to finish off my ice cream.  Teasing myself I thought, "Should I eat the vanilla off the top first and then get to the waffle cone, or should I eat the waffle cone around and savor the vanilla topping... oh the choices!??" 

All of a sudden I hear a "Sschwappp!!!"  I blinked 3 about times... I thought my fiance was playing a cruel joke on me when next thing you know... I see a hawk flying 90 miles away from me... Mr. ice cream cone in his death claws...

...huh?? whaaah??  I didn't even get to savor the vanilla... ... ... ...

Anyhow, that pissed me off.  I almost cried how angry I was.  My fiance and his friend thought it was hilarious.  I never thought it would happen to me.  Of all people... what did I ever do to the hawks? 

Needless to say... how would I have finished off the ice cream?  I will never know.  I never fathomed the idea of having a hawk swoop down and flying away with my ice cream, that's for sure.

LOL.

Yeah, you should read the other post about the hawks. I pretty much won't eat anything outside because of this, lol.

Yep, they stalk us around base everywhere we go. They are evil, lol.

Truly tragic. I am sorry for your loss. Take a look at
www.japanbases.com/home/forums/aff/476/aft/1202/afv/topic/afpgj/2.aspx#1202

Another Post about this topic.

Hawks Problem on Yokosuka Base

Dead Poet,

By the way, welcome to the website. I am sure you didnt know there was that other post about the Hawks problem, but you could read some of those other stories, and know you arent alone..

Sorry you lost your ice cream..

LoL i would be the same reaction too specially if i paid a bit expensive

Wow. Hilarious. Though I do feel for your loss. I owe you an ice cream cone whenever you want to collect.

That sucks!!! BAD BIRDIES!! XD

I have always heard stories, but never had it happen to me until yesterday. This was in Ikego. My husband was eating something while pushing the stroller and I was right next to him. That friggin bird swooped right in between us and hit me with his wing. 30 seconds later, he did it again. Those things are extremely maneuverable.

LMAO @ "sorry for your loss...."

they keep coming back till u give them the food.. bad birds!! evil robot bird as my 4 year olds says

I always think 'Next time those suckers swoop down and hit me with their wings I am going to punch it right in the face' then it does it, and when it gets close with a wing span longer than my arms and its scary looking face I just end up running like hell haha!!

ROFLMAO, Keppy!

ROFL!!! Man that's some funny stuff, wrong, but really funny...soo sorry about your ice cream!

Sounds like we are going to have come up with an Anti-Hawk Warfare Program, the attacks keep getting more severe

lol that would be me running like hell .. i fear birds oh lord i think i would die a thousand deaths lmao

A hawk snatched a bean bun right out of my daughter's hand last spring (she was 3 at the time), at Mikasa park. She STILL talks about how the "bad bird stole my doughnut!," and cowers when the buggers are flying overhead.

Has anyone tried carrying an umbrella? I hate the sun as it is and usually use one for sun protection anyways. Do you think the monster birds would still attempt or even notice? I am not *in* Japan yet, but I swear I won't give up my junk food to a giant bird, wing span be darned! Besides I can make a MUCH scarier face lol! ( Spoken by a naive lady who will later this year re post with a story about how she wet herself when an evil bird has steals her food ).

I started this post "Hawks - Problem On Yokosuka Base" about 2 1/2 years ago.

http://www.japanbases.com/forums/aft/1202.aspx

Weird that I havent had any other experience with the hawks since.

Sure I see them devouring all over, people being stupid feeding them from time to time, but no personal encounters.

Until yesterday 04/09/2012.

I was sitting at the Fleet Rec (3rd Dec) out side patio eating lunch by myself.  It was a beautiful day, so I wanted to enjoy it outside.

I had purchased (2) wraps.  I ate the first one.  When I got to the second one, I took 2 bites, and set it down.  As I go to reach for it, this huge swwwwooosh goes by my right side ear, and just snatches the entire sandwich from my tray.

It freaked me out for a second, because all I could hear was the wind swoosh by my from the hawk, and the paper riping.

I am just glad he didnt get my hand...

I tell you one thing, these hawks have guts! 

I stood up and backed off for a while.  Looked up in the sky, and building, but couldnt see anything.

A couple of weeks ago my son Kyle was at the high school eating his lunch. He had finished his chips off and was going for his sandwhich. Holding it in his left hand and reading something on his phone in the right. He felt a tug on his left arm by the time he realized it his sandwhich was gone and booking around the corner. The kids in the courtyard were shocked and laughing at the same time.

To throw salt on the wound his US history teacher saw him and the look on his face, asked "Kyle were you eating a sandwhich?". Kyle replied he was but no longer and asked why, the teacher responded with "oh I just saw a hawk flying with a sandwhich over my head about a minute ago".

The ravens are just as bad. I was walking to the barge from the hospital while eating a muffin. One raven kept following me from lightpost to lightpost. As I passed under it, the sucker would up and wing to the next one eyeing to see if I dropped any or if I was going to feed some. Luckily I got to eat it before it decided to get a bit closer.

This past Friday, the teachers were having a bbq for lunch on the teacher work day. This was under a pavilion mind you and it started looking like a scene from Hitchcock's movie The Birds." It was mildly OK until a coworker decided to take her food to go...this was a mistake. They started circling her overhead quietly and suddenly, with no warning, one swooped down in an attempt to steal the WHOLE PLATE...She screamed and ran while the giant birds made a meal of her food bit by bit. That is when they started converging on the pavilion.

Yea, me and my 3 year old were over behind the purdy gym having a "picnic" ....I just got here so nobody warned me of the flying evils lol. She had a cracker in her hand and it happened to be the same day the GW was having a get together or something there was music ect. I thought wow what a nice day to picnic, we sat by the music in the grass (like others were doing) my daughter loves to dance so she had a cracker in her hand up dancing standing right next to me. Well all of the sudden something dead on HIT the side of my face....I literally thought it was a football bc the guys were playing...by the time I looked around my daughter was screaming like someone just ripped her head off... Well I quickly figured out it was the bird that hit me in the face while trying to grab her cracker instead grabbing her hand and scratching it to pieces bloody mess as well....we had to move very soon bc there was 6 others surrounding us! Never having a dang picnic again!!!

We had a little hanami in Kosano Park the other day and were not bothered at all. I think the natural coverage of the sakura grove saved us.

Over here by Ikego, off base, past the 7eleven, to the left, then right is a street, (I don't know the name) I call it the cherry tree lane. Up at the top of that hill is a park with lots of cherry trees and there were MANY picnics there on Sunday. I mean that park was FULL. I didn't see not one single group being attacked by birds. We just walked up there to be a part of the action and have all the little Japanese children run up and say "hello," wave, smile, and run. I love the cherry trees and know they don't last for long so I wanted to be there and get some pictures. Again lots of picnics and NOT one bird that I saw...

I will punch a damn bird in mid air right in the face if he tries to steal my food!

Posted By indytrucks on 04-11-2012 7:18 PM
I will punch a damn bird in mid air right in the face if he tries to steal my food

hhaahaha

I think, for the most part, its on base thats the issue. I know at the eating area on Pier 12, where the GW is, the birds are huge, and gather in huge numbers every day at lunch time.