Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Raptors in the Yard

As I meandered near the tall grass and weeds, camera in hand, I nearly stepped on this guy.  I had not seen him and he startled me as he flew off to perch on this tree.  I crept back to the house to get the 300 and tried to sneak as close as I could.  He posed for a couple, but I just can't hand hold the 300, even in pretty good light, and there was nothing to lean against, so it's not as sharp as I would like.  Plus it's cropped from the camera to about 1/4 of the original frame to get a decent composition.  I have a hard time identifying hawks, even with a still photo and Sibley's Guide to Birds in hand, but I'm pretty sure this is a juvenile Red-shouldered Hawk.

3 comments:

Jack Thyen said...

Several years ago we had one of those get stuck inside our screened in porch. He tore up every single screen trying to get out. Cost us $750 to replace all the screens! Not to mention all the bird poop!

Eeyore said...

We went on a cruise a couple of years ago and when we got back we found our house completely covered inside by black outlines of a big bird, quite a few items broken, and bird crap everywhere. Cowering behind the kitchen stove was a wood duck, which had mistaken our chimney for a hollow tree and exited through the wood stove instead of back the way he came in. We got him back outside and cleaned up the considerable mess.

ShEiLa said...

Nice shot... I love birds. Hawks, falcons, owls... I love them all. Fun to photograph if they don't feel threatened and they stay put.

ToOdLeS.