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Sunday, June 21, 2009

Red-Tailed Hawk

Early this year, a breeding pair of red-tailed hawks set up house in a tree at the horse farm next door. Since then, they have taunted me. At first I thought it was just coincidence. If I didn't have my camera nearby, they'd fly just yards overhead and stay around. If I got my camera, they'd either fly hundreds of feet high or disappear behind the tree line.

I've enjoyed watching their aerial battles with the neighborhood crows and mocking birds but could never get a clean shot at them. But today, I was lucky enough to have their offspring learning to fly in our neighbor's yard.

"Great....I made it down from the tree. Now what?"
"Hey, this reminds me of the next....maybe I should just hang out here?""Well, these things got me down here, maybe they can get me back up.""Kewl! Look ma, I'm on top of the world! Well, on top of the house, at least!"
Once he figured that part out, he flew (well, sort of) back into the trees heading to the horse farm. I guess the two mocking birds that were dive bombing him didn't making him feel too comfortable here.

9 comments:

  1. what great close-ups of these hawks!!

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  2. Don't ya just love the babies...I had to catch a fledgling house wren the other day that inadvertently...or not...flew into my kitchen. What a wee lil' darling this baby was tucked into my palm just before release.

    Nature just marvels me!

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  3. These are great photos. A fun post and I loved the funny commentary :)

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  4. What wonderful pictures you took..They are beautiful. Almost like he was posing for you..
    Good job.

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  5. Great shots! Must have been fun to watch a bird this big trying to fly. I love watching baby eagles out on the west coast but I've never seen one learning to fly.

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  6. Fabulous. Wow, you can tell the power in the talons in that one shot.

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  7. Looks like his tree house on the fifth floor branch came crashing down with the interest rates!

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  8. I too know the frustration of getting good shots of the Hawk....Great shots!!!
    I have a Hawk friend here I have been following for several years trying to get a good close up of...you can see him on my blog..takes alot of patience and time.....
    click on the blog address below to see him..click on the photo's to enlarge to get a full sized view of him....

    http://eaglesbrothersgourdsandart.blogspot.com/2009/04/patience-pays-off.html

    Bob

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  9. wonderful! I love that you got some close ups of him. I love the wing structure and you got one of him with his wings open. I can't believe he's a baby!

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