Two Of A Kind

These two red-shouldered hawks were carrying on outside my window this afternoon something fierce. No idea why, but they were flying around, squawking, perching on a tree, then on a pole, one would fly in, then the other, then the first would fly off again. I don't think it was a mating thing, since it's the wrong time of year. I suspect maybe they are a couple of newly-fledged juveniles, out for a good time, getting a little exercise. I also spotted a couple more similar hawks in the air nearby at the same time, perhaps that was mommy and daddy. But whatever their backstory, it was neat to watch them right outside my window here. For a while they were much closer than this, on the same palm frond in fact, but this was the best picture I could get with both of them in the same frame.

Back At Work

Here's another shot of that hawk that hangs around at work sometimes. Here he's sitting on top of the power pole behind the building, looking back at me as if he didn't want his picture made. He must have decided shortly thereafter that he really didn't want me to take his picture, because he flew off and I didn't see him again anytime soon.

Local Bird

This is the hawk that has recently been seen around where I work. Nearly every day he's sitting outside, making all kinds of noise, flying back and forth, establishing a noisy presence in the area. I haven't found a nest yet, nor have I even seen his mate, but I figure it's inevitable. Maybe baby hawklings are in the works, one can only hope. I believe this is a common red-shoulder hawk, but I could be mistaken. I need to see him on the wing more clearly to see if maybe he's a red-tail instead. We found a rat in a trap the other day that wasn't dead yet, and we stuck him outside on the grass. Within half an hour, Mr. Hawk here had scooped him up and had a nice little meal. We later found the skin and tail in a pile where he'd left them. I wish there was some way to get him to come inside and save us from having to first trap the rats.

Everywhere

I see hawks all the time, every where I go. Do why do I still stop to take their picture? I don't know...

Okefenokee Hawk

I had a chance to spend a few minutes visiting the very outskirts of the Okefenokee Swamp when I was in Georgia. I've got plenty more pictures of that to share with you, but first I want to show you this red shouldered hawk I saw on the way into and out of the park. I spotted him on my way in, but I didn't get the chance to stop. Thankfully, he was still there when I left, although he'd moved. And as I watched him, he moved from one dead tree to another.

The second time I spotted him he let me get a little closer, but not much. And this time he decided he'd had enough and flew far enough away that I couldn't see him any more. Oh, well.

A Pair Of Reds

Up at Mom and Dad's house again recently, and I spotted somebody down on the old tree in the next pasture behind their place. You've seen this tree plenty of times before, with kestrels, bluejays, woodpeckers and other flying critters on it, but this time proved to be somebody I'd rarely seen out there, a red tailed hawk. These guys aren't nearly so common as the red shouldered ones I see around all the time. They're also quite a bit larger, which may explain why they are rarer.

As I was walking out to get closer to the hawk I could see on the old dead tree, something big made a noise in a live pine tree on my right. Turns out it was a second red tail, probably the mate of the first one. This second one took off and flew around in front of me, so I was able to squeeze off a couple of good shots. Had I known I was that close to a second one, I would have gotten some much better shots, I assure you. Next time I'll know to look there!


The first hawk just watched all the commotion calmly, not seeming to care very much.

Eventually I got too close and he took off. But he was nice enough to circle around a few times and let me get some pictures. I wish he'd been a little closer, but these aren't too bad.



I had forgotten that I'd seen a red shoulder near this tree one time before, but I only caught a fleeting and blurry glimpse of him that one time. Perhaps they've taken up a more permanent residence in the area now.

The New Camera, The Old Tree

OK, I did it. I ordered a new camera. After my Rebel XSi broke at the shuttle launch, I knew I needed to get something. Something bigger, better and in my hands. Fixing my camera is going to cost a few hundred dollars, but more urgently, it's going to take six weeks or so. With the holidays well inside that six week window, I couldn't wait. So I ordered a brand spanking new Canon 7D. This is the top of the line crop sensor camera from Canon, and they don't come much better than this. I just got in via UPS on Wednesday, and today was my first chance to take it outside and put it through it's paces. I have to carry the instruction manual around with it, because I don't know how to do many of the things I want to do yet, and with so many buttons, wheels and even a little joystick, it's hard to find things at a glance. I've still got my rented 100-400mm lens from the shuttle launch, and combined with this 18 megapixel sensor, I got some great picture of small birds from far away. You've seen the old tree behind my parent's house many times before, and I've probably brought you pictures of this very same kestrel before, but never this clear. I've cropped all of these picture down to almost 1:1, so click on them and see just how well this camera/lens combination works.

That old tree is home to not only the kestrel at top, but also this woodpecker and an occasional buzzard.


I didn't catch this hawk actually in the tree, but he did fly past in a big hurry. I managed to get this and one other shot of him in the air before he hid in the non-dead trees.

Those Hawks In Washington

As I was standing on The Ellipse, shooting pictures of The White House, something caught my eye. Sure enough, there was a red-tailed hawk circling overheard, or actually just to the right of overhead, probably over the Treasury building. He never got too close, but I was able to get this shot of him since I had a long lens on the camera just by luck. I think sometimes I have fairly decent bird karma.

Long Time, No See

Hey Gang! Sorry I haven't been around much lately, but I really needed a break after the long Christmas In July holiday. There's a reason Christmas only lasts one day, a whole month of Christmas is enough to kill even the hardiest blogger, and I'm far from hardy. So today I got the chance to shoot the first recreational pictures I've taken in a month or more, and I got real lucky. At my parent's house, I saw a big hawk in the old dead tree, and it turned out to be a red tail! I don't think I've ever seen one of these guys in the wild, although I see them at sanctuaries and shows fairly often. This guy took off before I got too close, but I got some shots as he circled around above me. Pretty impressive, I think.

Alfred Hitchcock Presents

I watched as a flock of birds suddenly flew out of a tree today for some unknown reason. I kept watching as they flew across the road towards me, then I finally figured out what they were doing. They were ganging up on this poor hawk and driving him off. Quite successfully, too, I might add. That hawk was flying away just as fast as he could, and I never saw him again. Shame, I wanted to take his picture. But at least I got some cool bird shots before leaving Ohio.

Hawk On High

I got this great shot of a red-shouldered hawk on the wing high above the same pond I shot the glossy ibis at this afternoon. You never know what you might run across when you pull off on the side of the road for a few minutes. Looks like this guy may have been in a fight recently, since he's missing feathers from his wingtip and his tail. Still impressive, though.

Thanksgiving Bird

I keep forgetting to post this picture of a red-shouldered hawk I took at my parents house on Thanksgiving day. He was giving the evil eyeball to some goldfish in Mom's fish pond until I walked up and scared him off. She tells me that every once in a while she finds a fish that's missing part of a tail, but she hasn't lost any since she put a screen over the top of it. Poor guy's gotta eat, though.

Well, I think he's a red-shouldered hawk. Something about him isn't right. I know these guys show a lot of color variation, but something is throwing me off.

Honeysuckle

We went to the Carolina Raptor Center in North Carolina today, and they had something I'd never seen before. You're looking at an albino red-shouldered hawk! I thought they had a cockatoo in a pen when I first walked up, and then I saw the beak. This girl was beautiful. They say she's not a full albino, and she did have a few dark feathers on the back of her head, but everything else was white. I don't think you'll ever see one of these in the wild.

By the way, Honeysuckle is her name, in case you were wondering where that title came from.

On Into October

The calendar page for this week in October features this great shot of a red-tailed hawk taking off. I shot this in Ohio a year or so ago while looking for deer. I didn't get any deer shots, but I'll settle for pictures like this any day.

Also Rans

I mentioned that I shot a pair of roseate spoonbills this afternoon. What I didn't mention were the myriad of other creatures I shot at the same time. There was a fairly large flock of glossy ibis feeding in the shallow water. Look close at the bird closest to center in the shot above and you'll spot a little blue heron that snuck in for a few bites. There was also some plain white ibis, a tri-colored heron, and a few pairs of moorhens. I didn't get any decent pictures of them though.

I had almost made it all the way around the lake when I saw this red-shouldered hawk on a tree branch nearby. He had his eye on something, but I never did find out what. Three shots after this one, I caught a frame with only his feet in the shot as he headed out after something. I saw either him or his mate a couple of minutes later being pursued by a murder of crows. No luck getting a picture of that, though.

This being Florida, you always have to keep your eyes open when you're near the water. Why? Because you never know when you might run into one of these fellows. This gator was about 6 feet long, and he was laid out in a storm drain right off the lake. I kept my distance once I saw him, but if I hadn't been paying attention, this could have spelled trouble.

Earth Day Is For The Birds

After going to Sun-N-Fun Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I needed a break on Sunday. But instead of staying in all day, I went out to the Earth Day celebration at Oscar Scherer State Park down in Nokomis, Florida. It's a nice little park that runs alongside a brackish creek, and is always good for a few pictures. I stumbled across their Earth Day celebration last year, so I wanted to go again this year. I wasn't disappointed! Same as last year, they had a number of groups that brought out animals for show and tell, including these four birds. Above you have the most active of the critters, a red-tailed hawk named Elvis. I know I took plenty of pictures of him last year, and I took plenty more this year. He's mighty photogenic, don't you think?

Next up is a great horned owl. I don't know why this guy appeared so sleepy. Maybe he didn't want to be up and about during the middle of the day. He was also a repeat from last year.

New at the celebration this year was a group that had a mountain lion and this bald eagle. I couldn't get any pictures of the mountain lion, as he was napping the whole time, but I did get some great shots like this one of the bald eagle. You can't appreciate how big these birds are until you're standing five feet away, and you realize he could tear off pieces of your body if he wanted to. I believe this guy's name was Thunder.

Another rerun from last year is Aurora, an American Kestrel, one of my favorite members of the raptor family. I can't get decent pictures of these guys in the wild, so I have to depend on shows like this to see them up-close. They never brought him out into the sunlight, so I wasn't able to capture the delicate blue color of the feathers on his head. But you can at least get a good idea of his small stature compared to the glove on which he's perched.

Kestrel Konfusion

I hear you all asking "What did Ernie shoot today?" and I have the answer right here. I was visiting my parents house, picking up my cat (she stayed up there while I was in Ohio). I was about to leave when I hear some bird commotion going on out in the pasture. I saw a small bird flying up and down, up and down, squawking and crying like crazy. After watching for a few seconds, I grabbed the camera and started heading in that direction. Naturally, as soon as I had the camera in my hands, the activity stopped. I walked slowly towards the trees where the action had taken place, and as I got closer, the hawk above took off out of the tree. I'm not sure if it's a red-shoulder or a red-tail. The red-shoulders are much more common, and my parents have seen them around, but the guy above looks suspiciously like a red-tail to me. But either way, I was surprised. I was quite far away from him, so what you see is a very tight crop of a much larger picture, as are all the ones I'm sharing tonight. If anybody wants to chip in and get me a larger lens, please feel free. Anyhow, I followed this guy into the trees, and kept shooting. It wasn't until I got the pictures onto the computer tonight that I realized he was a different bird than all my other shots.

When I shot this picture, I thought it was the same bird as earlier, but you can see that it's not. Look closely, and you can see this is a much lighter bird, and it's actually much smaller. Looking closely at the 100 or so shots I squeezed off, I believe this is an American Kestrel, which would make it the first time I've seen one of those in the wild. The giveaway is the bands of dark feathers on the face, as well as the small size. I only wish I could have gotten closer, because in good light, those bands on the face are blue!

Maybe this shot of the Kestrel on a fence post will give you a better feel for his size. He flew from post to post for quite some time, perhaps scanning the grass for some prey. I was trying to slowly get closer the whole time, but probably never got closer than 100 yards or so.

When he got tired of hopping from post to post, he flew into a large dead oak tree on the other side of the fence. I couldn't get any closer at this point, so he stayed still longer. I've shown you this tree before, with a beautiful full moon behind it. (Well, I thought I had, but I can't find the post. I'll have to dig up that picture for you.)

From my far away vantage point, I could see other specks moving around my bird. I couldn't tell what they were, other than they didn't act like the kestrel. Looking at my pictures, I figured out that they were blue jays. You can see the one I caught on the wing at the upper left of this shot. Look close and you can tell he's certainly blue.

Here's a shot of another blue jay in flight. The color here is really evident. I wish I could get in-flight shots like this when I'm closer. Gotta work on getting that longer lens. Anyhow, what I finally decided happened was that the kestrel had spotted the bigger hawk in a tree, and was trying to scare or intimidate him. That was the behavior that initially drew my attention. The big hawk wasn't scared until I got closer, then he took off and flew away. The kestrel then probably returned to the area to hunt. My eyes weren't good enough to spot the difference in the field, but the camera was, thank goodness. This is all terribly exciting, isn't it?

Hawk (Not Tony)

Yesterday, Bill, the boss at my Ohio office, took me down through the Cuyahoga Valley in search of some deer. Unfortunately, we didn't spot any, but I did manage to spot this red-tailed hawk. (Well, I believe it's a red-tail, but I'm not an expert on birds anywhere, much less here in Ohio.) Bill must have thought I was crazy when I yelled to stop the van and jumped out with my camera clicking away. In the first few shots I got, the hawk had his head turned down, but this is the first one I got where you could see his head. I was walking towards him slowly, trying not to spook him, when he turned and took off across the river.


I can't even get shots like that in Florida! Right place, right time I guess. He settled in a tree on the far bank of the Cuyahoga, so I kept walking towards him, hoping to get some more shots.

After landing on the far bank, this magnificent bird was too far away to get more good shots, but I waited a little while anyway, and sure enough, he took off soon again and began to circle overhead. It took me a few minutes to figure out why, but it turned out that a crow was harassing him. I got this one shot of the two of them fighting in mid-air. I guess the crows get some kick out of it. I didn't see any food involved, and it's certainly not a mating ritual. But whatever it is, it makes for great pictures!