I spot hawks all the time, daily, but I think it is only because I have trained my eyes to the shape of them. My ears, to the sound of them. Listen for the high-pitched cry, or for crows, with their endless mobbing. Seek the silhouette on the lone high branch; watch for enormous flapping wings of tan, and you will see what I see:
This red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) was spotted over a parking lot one day when I went to Bed, Bath & Beyond. I heard the familiar harassing caw of crows, looked, and there she was.This next spotting was on my own street, this afternoon. She flew directly in front of my car, squirrel dangling from talons (sweet!) and landed on a low branch. I snuck up on her with my car and took these from the window; if I had gotten out, I'm sure she would have flown. They don't like being watched.
Isn't it amazing what you can see when you know how to look?
14 comments:
SWEETNESS!
Very cool!
That's a lot of hawk pictures. I have hit my weekly quota.
-- david
I love spotting hawks too. I wish I actually had my camera with me whenever I see them.
A bunch of turkey buzzards live near a back road I like to take to work, and I always get really excited when I see them too. Like today, when one was standing right in the middle of the road, which happened to have 6 inches of snow on it because it wasn't plowed yet. 2 feet of bird would not have looked good on my car if I hadn't been able to stop.
Excellent photos! I don't have any birds nearly that beautiful in my neighborhood.
Very amazing...just love it!
Thanks for sharing!
Nice ... Myself, I was out with a new video camera shooting the grey squirrels who appear to live in my backyard. (And maybe in my attic?)
As for bird, all I've seen so far are crows and the odd gull. No hawks here, at least that I've seen. And, oddly, I miss Alberta's magpies.
Of course, when it comes to birds my personal favorites are wrens. :-)
Nice photos Spinnerina!
hawk + dead squirrel = the sweetness!
I think I told you this before. Dammit, I'm telling you again..
I took a road trip to Missouri once and along the way I found a book in the backseat of my friend Anna's truck. It was a hawk book. I read it outloud and we bird watched from the highway and came along some pretty awesome hawk specimens. We tried to stop one time and take a pic, but this was before they invented digicams and we were too far away and it came out fuzzy. We had fun. The end.
SG - Great shots ! The only birds you'll see in my neighborhood are pigeons.
Stunning post. I have read it a few times...I was looking for hawks today because of this.
Ohmigod.
Soooooo cool.
You would SO love the birds in South Africa!
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