"My Eyes Have Seen You" (pics of red tailed hawk)

FReerepublic ^ | 3/10/2012 | raybbr

[raybbr]

I was at a birthday party yesterday in Cromwell, CT. This hawk was kind enough to sit and pose for some pictures.

Hope you enjoy.

[MeganC]

Nice!

[mbarker12474]

very nice

[Nervous Tick]

Very nice! Thank you!

[babble-on]

magnificent plumage

[Puppage]

I see these guys all the time on my way to the office, up Route 8.

[NoRedTape]

Beautiful!

[wita]

Thanks.

[grumpa]

Good diversion frI’m Obama Romney.

[united1000]

Beautiful!

[expat1000]

Beauty! Thank you.

[gimme1ibertee]

Beautiful bird! Really nice of him to pose for you..:)

[eastforker]

Yea, must be running for some sort of office this election cycle!

[wolfpat]

I have many of these birds in my area, but I have never seen them as close as your beautiful pictures. Thank you.

[Quick Shot]

And the camera is???

[submarinerswife]

We have a pair of Red Tail hawks in our neighborhood living in clump of trees behind our house. They are so pretty! They scream as they circle. The squirrels are terrified.

[Vendome]

He’s beautiful!

[onona]

Very nice. And I second the question. What kind of camera do you use ?

[afraidfortherepublic]

How dare that hawk grab attention away from the Birthday boy/girl? That’s just plain rude. Does that hawk think he’s spectacular, or something? sarc/off

That is great photography. I hope you pinged swampsniper. Thanks for posting.

[toolman1401]

Great pics. Thx for posting. Would love to see more of these in my neighborhood to control the rabbit population, but fear that my mini schnauzer would become a potential food source once the hawks had decimated the rabbits.

[gitmogrunt]

Awesome!..way to go!

[nuconvert]

Cool!

[raybbr]

I have a Nikon D5000. Shot with a 18-105mm lens. All the pics were shot in either manual mode or shutter priority. Lens was at 105mm equivalent to 157mm.

Thanks for the comments and for asking.

[Aliska]

And the camera is???

Nikon D5000 Manual exposure 1/250 sec f10 on one of them.

Really nice shots. That bird was watching you.

[longfellow]

Terrific! he wasn’t posing, he was eyeing the cake!

[SandyInSeattle]

He looks like he’s posing for you!

[Exit148]

Really nice pictures, and great feather detail! The way he is looking at you — you’d better watch your back!

They go after small rodents, usually, but they do like birds too. BUT — I’ve often seen one nearby, and the birds go about their business. Not so with the smaller raptors who are quicker. When one of those are near, the birds freeze in place and you can’t hear a peep.

Thanks for posting it!

[aimhigh]

I recommend you post these on www.pixdaus.com, the best nature photo site.

[depenzz]

<I think they are a neat bird. We have many here in south Central PA. Depending on their food supply, they do come into the area of our houses and take doves at times. Several years ago we had a nest with 3 young ones in it. Two of them made it, one flew into a picture window of a neighbor and broke its neck. A game warden picked it up. They mount them and use them for teaching. One day the mother was sitting on the peak of my roof with a very young kitten in her claws ( must have visited a barn yard in the country.)
<The pictures are beautiful, thanks for sharing them with us.

[battousai]

Nice photos, we have a lot of red tails around where I live (little North of Toronto, Canada) but I haven’t managed to get photos as good as these.

[OldNavyVet]

I'm feeding birds in my backyard everyday; mostly doves, sparrows and crows. Recently, however, I was watching a flock of doves picking up seeds ... and a hawk suddenly swooped in, pulverized a dove, and flew off with the dove's carcass -- leaved a scattered mess of feathers behind.

It was all over in a matter of seconds.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Superfine!!

[EyeGuy]

I have lots of those guys in my backyard, but there is no way they would allow me to get close enough to allow a shot like that. Even with a long telephoto lens.

Good job.

######

“Lens was at 105mm equivalent to 157mm.”

Sorry but could you explain that statement? Digital zoom combined with optical zoom, perhaps?

[geologist]

There is DANGER for small animals ... Yorkie and such ...

Hawks gotta eat too. Great pictures. Thanks.

[advertising guy]

enjoy
http://www.wvec.com/eaglecam

and another

http://www.wildearth.tv/hwf-whiterock-02

[timeflies]

Beautiful pictures. I see lots of those too. But I hate the sound they make.

[Altariel]

Clearly, he was hoping to grab a piece of birthday cake. :-)

Beautiful bird!

[rlmorel]

Great pics, Rabbyr!

Red Tails are amazingly adapted to humans. Just the other day I was driving down Route 128 in Massachusetts during rush hour, and there was a big Red Tail sitting on light between the northbound and southbound sides.

Bumper-to-bumper traffic flying at 70mph, and she looked like she could care less.

[thesearethetimes...]

What a lucky photographer to have such a handsome and willing subject ; )

Those are some really great shots, and I am glad you thought to share them with us :)

May God bless you and yours, good sir.
Tatt

[Rappini]

Great Pics thanks.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Neat pics! What kind of camera are you using?

[Niteranger68]

Had one of these guys squatting right over my favorite fishing spot a few months back....I kept rowing till I found a new one.

[Zionist Conspirator]

Beautiful, beautiful birds. They're quite common here where I live and I often see them sitting on roadside power lines, watching over a field for prey activity.

Also (as I understand it), redtails don't prey on other birds, but rather mammals and reptiles.

Anyone remember Aurora, the red-tailed hawk from "Adventures from the Book of Virtues?" She was voiced by Kath Soucie.

[ErnBatavia]

We have redtails here in the desert, and they do hunt other birds....I’ve seen both dove and quail takedowns, right in our backyard.

[Zionist Conspirator]

We have redtails here in the desert, and they do hunt other birds....I’ve seen both dove and quail takedowns, right in our backyard.

I stand corrected.

Never take Gramps Miller from the old "Lassie" show as a nature authority, I suppose.

[Broker]

Great photos taken in Torrey Pines, California of the Perigrine Falcon here: http://www.sharpeyesonline.com/

[Hoffer Rand]

We had a peregrine do that with a quail in our backyard. He wasn’t big enough to fly off with the quail, so he had his dinner under our blue spruce, then took off with what was left over.

[bugman]

I’m always looking for the red on the tail. Occaisionally I see it. Classifying is tough. Thanks for the pics.

[raybbr]

“Lens was at 105mm equivalent to 157mm.” Sorry but could you explain that statement? Digital zoom combined with optical zoom, perhaps?

With a digital SLR there is a multiplication factor of the camera. It has to do with the difference in the size of the focal plane on the digital camera as compared to film.

A good explanation here....

[EyeGuy]

Yeah, got it. Now I remember.

Thanks for the refresher, and the link.