Saturday, January 21, 2006

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!

1 comment:

  1. Wondered if anyone knows how to deter the red tail crow from eating my normal bird feed?

    ReplyDelete

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