Friday, August 5, 2016

Red-Tailed Hawks!

The sharp eyes of my spotter, Mrs. F.G., noticed them as we drove along last evening.  She thought it would be a good picture, so I turned around and went back to see.  Remarkably, they didn't fly immediately.

Can you see them?  I wouldn`t have the foggiest chance of spotting them, especially when we were whizzing by at 90 kph!

May this will help you.  We`d been seeing hay or straw bales all evening on our drive down to Elora and back to meet our daughter.

Actually, they were closer when Mrs. F.G. spotted them, sitting on the bale closest to the road, though unfortunately facing away from me.

Still, I was able to crop that photo a great deal and end up with a relatively good view - though it`s impossible for me to identify it from this angle.

I got several shots, moved the car a little, and then it flew.

You can scarcely see it in this picture, skimming along barely 6"off the ground with its wings held flat.

But then it curved up and landed on another hay bale to join its mate, giving me a good view of the red tail.

And I was able to crop that shot down dramatically too, giving you a great picture of both birds - definitely a Red-Tailed Hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, one of the more common hawks here.

 Linking tpL

23 comments:

  1. At this time of year, in that situation, any buteo is almost certain to be a Red-tailed Hawk. Any other species would be very unlikely indeed.

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  2. Beautiful. We had an overabundance of Redtails a few years ago...sure thinned the rabbits and feral cats but it's more balanced now.

    I love what the big toys do but I'm gonna play helpless female as long as I can get away with it!

    Have a blessed weekend.

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  5. Oh awesome captures . They can be quite tricky to photograph as anything that shines or reflects like a lens or silver parts on a camera makes them take off . Yes they are red tailed hawks . Thanks for sharing , Have a good weekend !

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  6. We are seeing lots of Hawks too, they must be moving around or they are done raising their young. :)

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  7. Good eyes on Mrs. FG! Nice captures, too.

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  8. You did get some amazing pictures of those red tails

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  9. Nice series of photos. Good sighting of Mrs FG.

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  10. Hello, awesome series on the Red tailed hawks. Great sighting! Thank you for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

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  11. Wonderful photos!
    Glad it flew so you could get a positive ID, but the back view is nice, too, showing the feather patterns.
    Have a great week-end!

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  12. Your last cropped shot's my favourite. I imagine they rather like the bales as perches to have a look around the field for any wandering mice.

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  13. Your wife has good eyes! Nice captures.

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  14. Nice! They do seem to like those big hay bales. I suppose it might have something to do with the disturbed rodents around them!

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  15. Lovely to see the Hawks on the bales. Have a great weekend.

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  16. There is a family with a nest along Davenport Rd and they love to sit high on the aerial at the TTC yards and then soar down for some prey. Quite a sight. I'm surprised your guys are so low down but I guess they can see anything moving along the ground easily from there.

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  17. I have a Hawk-eye wife just like yours. Even when she spots something and points it out chances are I still don't see it. Good thing we fellers have our Eagle-eye spotters.

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  18. Lovely photo's, and so lovely to see the Hawks.

    All the best Jan

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  19. I need to get a camera that lets me take pictures with a good telephoto lens, or enough pixels to crop. Nice job. - Margy

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  20. I don't know the territory size needed per bird but we see many of them here in Iowa. When taking the stretch of interstate south you can see them evenly spaced along the road. I really like all the hay bales and the capture of the hawk.

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