Name the hawk. Is it a red shouldered? A cooper’s hawk? The light situation was bad. Ad on top of it I just started using the Merlin Bird Identification App. and Merlin could not identify its call. I also could not get a picture of its back. It was facing me next to a hiking trail with its back to a busy road, so the recording I tried to make was not good quality with cars passing by.
This guy must not have been in hunting mode. He is giving himself away with his call.Looks like he is going to fall over here.
It sounds kind of like this call from All About Birds, A Red Shouldered.
So, what’s your verdict? I am leaning towards red-shouldered because its call is closer than the ones I hear of the Copper’s Hawk. Regardless, is it a juvenile? Obviously, I am not a bird expert.
One does not have to walk far into the woods here to tell we have many woodpeckers. There are holes in a lot of trees. Many times they are just searching for bugs under the bark to eat. Sometimes it is to build a home. This woodpecker I saw near the Hudson River on one of my walks this week. A pair were flying tree to tree together and had a unique call. This woodpecker is the northern flicker.
I am hoping this year to find some babies peaking out of a hole. I am sure they are born already. I have seen some adults bringing back food to tree holes, but no heads peaking out. I think by the time they do that the leaves are fully on the trees blocking our view. One can only hope I will some day get lucky. Have a great weekend! Go slow enjoy your holiday!
It’s hard to tell how many eaglets there are in the nest when you look at the back of your camera. I visited this nest two times today. I thought I only saw one head. A couple of times I captured two. However, I was told there are actually three eaglets in this nest. The first may have been born I heard before the end of March. The others may have been the same week or maybe even the last one this week.
Two of the three are visible. Watching the other parent do a fly-by.Screaming or calling to spouse doing a fly-by. Bring more food, we have three mouths to feed.You can see one head to the right of the parent.
I am guessing the youngest one is the one I am not seeing. Someone was lucky enough to get all three in a picture. It was a cloudy day, but this is the best time I feel to get eagle pictures as there will be less shadows given where the nest is. Even on cloudy days there are things to see.
This tree had two visible holes, but the larger hole I did not think was large enough to host an owl that was egg sitting. After seeing an adult owl perched in the tree I realised it could. I also figured out there was another hole I could not view.
Not sure if this is a nest tree or the barred owl was just chilling. No wildlife seemed to spot this owl here so it seemed to be a good perching spot. I haven’t seen two owls together yet. I have not heard them calling to each other. It has been rather quiet this year in the woods. I am open to the belief this owl and its mate may be hanging out more on private property.
Despite that it was a cloudy morning, I was happy to spot this owl. The tell tale signs of the nearby wildlife being upset were not there. Looking at tree holes and knobs of branches helped today. Walk slow and appreciate nature.
Is this a red-shouldered hawk? Another one was nearby and kept calling to it. The call sounded like the call of a red shouldered I heard online. What do you think?
If you have nice weather tomorrow, get out and enjoy it. For some it may be the calm before the storm.
Do red tailed hawks have a sense of smell? This one makes me wonder. One of the hawk’s go to spots to perch is on top of a wildlife refuge’s latrine chimney.
I call this hawk Diva, because it seems to want all the attention at the refuge. It seemingly poses for photographers.
These were taken yesterday. It was sunny, but very windy and frigid. What do you think? Do hawks have a sense of smell?
I don’t think this red tailed hawk was named by anyone, but I am going to call it Diva. Why? It has no problem being around people and will seemingly try to get the attention of the people taking wildlife pictures or with binoculars watching wildlife.
Maybe the hawk is trying to remind everyone to be on good behaviour. Only certain trails are open in winter due to the visitors from far up north.
If I had Google Translate set Hawk to English: This is a reminder. The area behind me is only for wildlife. Humans stay on the other side of the sign. Some wildlife sleep during the day on the ground.
Despite today being a very windy, frigid day it was great to see the hawk. I had to take numerous in the car breaks with the heat running. Frigid days can still be fruitful days.
These pictures were taken on the same day as my other post on snow geese. It was a dark, windy, dreary day. I felt fortunate though to see them in flight.
I saw them arrive to the park from a distance. I walked closer to where they landed. After a while smaller groups among them took flight again above the park. It was like they were exercising, or possibly getting ready for another long flight.
They did several circles around the park before they landed again. Lucky for me they flew overhead.
A white morph- notice the dark wing tipsA blue morph from the rear, coming in for a landingI was lucky to have overhead flights and fly-bys ahead of me.Fly by.
Flaps down, floating in for a landing.
Not sure how they avoid landing on another bird from the flock. Add into the conditions that it was a very windy day and it seems like a difficult task.
Despite the weather and dark skies, great things can be seen! Walking outside is a great stress reliever. Seeing wildlife makes it more so.
I went to a park that straddled two states to catch these. Two attempts after work did not yield results. The third attempt on a weekend was the charm. Warning: it was a dreary day, so the images are dark and not sharp as a result.
I saw them approach the park in a large group from a distance. I guesstimate the group was around a few hundred. I walked towards where they were. They slowly drifted towards my location. It helped few people were there.
When they arrived the swans were at the end of the water body closest to me. When the swans wanted to get to the other side, the snow geese gave them a wide path. I don’t know if that is respect or fear. What do you think?
This one was tagged around the neck.
Most were white morphs. According to All About Birds white morphs have black wingtips and a pink bill with a black grin patch.
One of these things is not like the others. I t appears to be a blue morph snow goose.
According to All about Birds blue morph snow geese have a white head and a dark body. The are the same size and shape as the white morph snow geese as well as the same pink bill with a black grin.
There was some loud communication between the snow geese.
I wish Google Translate had snow geese as an option. It would be interesting to know what they were saying amongst themselves.
They were here evidently a couple of weeks before I caught them. I have heard from multiple people this is unusual. There may have been a thousand or more at one point. At this location is is down to a couple hundred or less now. They do not usually come to this area in these numbers. I think our mild weather made this area and its ice free waters attractive as a long term stop.
Get out and enjoy nature! Even when the weather is not optimal. You may get to see something you have have before.
I am doing overtime from January- March at least. December showed me you cannot take your health for granted. I do not have much time to take photos. Many times on the weekends it has been cloudy before sunset. After work it is usually dark or close to it by the time I get home.
I only saw the red tailed hawk up close this time. The short eared owls only came up after 4 and stayed far away. It was a very overcast day and it was not long before sunset, so the light is not good and they are not sharp.
This one wanted to be the star. It landed on the pole close to the parking lot for a while. Then it flew right over me and landed on the refugee’s latrine chimney. Then it flew on top of a bird house. All the while it was close to people and did not seem to care.
Don’t take your health for granted. Get out and walk! Enjoy nature. Be around people who are positive.
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