Majestic
Red-Tailed Hawk
Buteo jamaicensis
Today, Shari and I took the dogs out to celebrate our being together for 6 years and well, because it was a beautiful day. Our trip to Tinicum was well-rewarded, because at the very beginning of the trail, two red-tailed hawks were perched within 20′ of the trail.
The dogs (unfortunately) startled one of them, but this beauty stuck around and let us get within 3-4m of her* – and no, she didn’t care a whit – there were mice to focus on. In fact, she showed no signs of stress at all, and I had to wait a while until she would pay any attention to me/us at all.
Definitely worth seeing large.
*I actually don’t know if this is a he or she – definitely an younger bird but she just struck me as a ‘she’, while the other seemed more like a ‘he’.
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Nice closeup. Congratulations to you and the Mrs. There’s nothing nicer than spending time outside on a beautiful day with someone you love. Hope the weather stays nice there …
Wow, that’s an incredible shot! Sounds like good times at Tinicum. How do you take photos with the dogs with you? Can they run unleashed at this place? Sarah and I wanted to do some photography, but also wanted to take the go somewhere, and we had to choose between the two (sorry, Rob!)
We saw a whole lot of birds, many large ones, particularly at Lake Monroe on Saturday. I took some shots of them, but the D50 kit lens isn’t exactly telephoto, nor is my 50mm normal lens. Can you sometimes identify birds from a silhouette from below, using the shape of their body/wings?
I also saw two huge birds on my bike ride yesterday, and even stopped to get a better look. Sadly, they were a bit too far away for me to see clearly, and I had a camera, but it was an old digital camera without much zoom, so I didn’t even bother taking pictures. All I really know is that they were big and grey.
That’s an amazing shot and a beautiful bird too. you can come visit my bluebirds any day btw. 😉
I think the Red-tailed Hawk wanted to wish you a happy 6 and stuck around to get such stunning shots! Great work and I also would like to wish you a happy 6.