Red-tailed Hawk – Circadianreflections Blog

Whatever Weds.-This & That

October 16, 2024October 16, 2024Posted in PhotographyTagged Birding, Comet C/2023 A3(Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), Daybreak, Emerald Bay, Fall Colors, Halloween, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Pope Beach, Red-tailed Hawk, Sunrise, This & That, Whatever Wednesday57 Comments

PLEASE DO NOT USE MY IMAGES WITHOUT EXPRESSED WRITTEN PERMISSION.

What a week it’s been! It all started on October 10th, 2024.

My neighbor and I rose early to head up to Emerald Bay for sunrise.

The color was earlier than we hoped so, we made a quick stop at Pope Beach to shoot the color and daybreak.

©Deborah M. Zajac | http//circadianreflections.com Image

Then we made our way up to a lookout over Emerald Bay to photograph the lake.

Then we took our time making stops along the way home to photograph some Autumn Color.

We saw a beautiful Red-tailed Hawk hunting for breakfast. She caught a Vole but, I won’t gross you out with those images.

Later that evening I saw the Northern Lights for the first time ever. That post is here. It was glorious.

Friday morning I birded with my usual birding group and we had a great morning seeing 40 species of birds. Along with the birds I noticed some spooky Zombie Pirates lurking by the pond. Here’s one.

Saturday morning I was up early and met up with two girl friends to do my first Big Day. It’s a 24 hour global birding marathon put on by Cornell Lab of Ornithology. We didn’t sign up as team or register our day but we, birded from 8AM until after 4PM. I saw 45 species. It was pretty fun day. We posted our sightings on ebird.org so they’ll have our record for their counts and information. Unfortunately, the next afternoon I got sick, and shortly afterwards I was hearing from my companions from the day before that they where also sick. We think the deli we stopped at to have lunch is where we picked up food poisoning. I brought home half my sandwich which I shared with He-Man and yep, he got it too. UGH.

Monday still weak, and very tired I was determined to locate and see Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) but, I wasn’t in shape to drive anywhere so I just stepped out on my back patio and photographed it there. It’s so cool and it has a great long tail!

What a week! What a month it’s been so far! The Aurora, and the Comet really made my month. Everything else has been icing on the cake.

My tummy is still sketchy, but I’m on the mend and so are He-Man and my friends. I plan to be out photographing Halloween things, birding, and maybe the Comet with a better composition soon. I hope your week is going well. Oh, and watch out for the Zombies and Ghoulies! 👻

Nikon D850| Nikkor 500mm, &35mm| PS CC

more to come…

Sunday’s Sunrise 1

March 12, 2023Posted in Carson Valley, Eastern Sierras, Landscape Photography, PhotographyTagged Carson Valley, Clouds, Cottonwoods, Eastern Sierra, Fence, Flood Plain, Flooding, From my Patio, Lakeside View, Red-tailed Hawk, Reflections, Sagebrush, Snow capped mountains, Sunrise51 Comments

4 days ago this was all covered in snow, but with snow last week followed by days of rain we now have a lakeside view!

We have more rain in the forecast so I imagine this will get more water this week. We’re about 15 ft above this so hopefully we’ll be alright.

There has been some flooding around the valley already. Fingers crossed it doesn’t get really bad. The county has sandbag stations set up across the valley for anyone who wants to get sandbags. The only requirement…bring your own shovel.

I hope you all stay safe, warm, and dry!

Nikon D810| Nikkor 80-200mm| PS CC 24.2.1

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Fog, Clouds, and a Hawk

January 18, 2023January 17, 2023Posted in Fuji X-T3, Nature, Nevada, Photography, Whatever WednesdayTagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Clouds, Cottonwood Trees, Fog, Job's Peak, Pond, Red-tailed Hawk, Russian Olive Trees, Snow, Snowing44 Comments

We’ve had fog, and storm clouds the last week through the week-end up until last night. We also got a whole lot of snow. Here are a couple of images of the scenery. Recently the mornings have been foggy.

Foggy morning-

Clouds-After the storm had passed I looked out the window and saw Job’s Peak just peeking out from the clouds, and this brilliant cloud on the left lit by the afternoon sun.

Last week I took advantage of a break in the storm to go run some errands, and on my way home I spied this beauty in a tree on my street.

Red-tail Hawk-

We have cloudy skies in the forecast for the rest of the week. Temperatures are forecasted to be lows in the teens, and highs in mid 30’s I hope that holds so I can get out to do some birding and meet up with some friends.

I hope your week is going well, and you have a lovely week-end too!

Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm Lens| PS CC 24.1.0

more to come…

Friday’s Feathered Friends-Red-Tail Hawk Chick

June 3, 2022June 2, 2022Posted in Bird Photogaphy, Friday's Feathered Friends, Nature, PhotographyTagged Birding Nevada, Birds in the Wild, Cottonwood tree, Friday's Feathered Friends, Fuji X-T3, Red-tailed Hawk52 Comments

The Red-Tail Hawk is back using the same nest as last year for this year’s breeding season. Yipee!

On the 15th while on my walk I think I spied a little head so when I got home I grabbed my camera and went back out to take photos of the nest and sure enough there was a chick in the nest and Mom too.

It wasn’t long before Mom took flight to stretch her wings. She flew into a tree across the way a bit to keep watch and once in awhile she called out letting the chick know she was near…I think. I kept waiting hoping the chick would sit up and it paid off.

Look how fuzzy and soft it looks! 2 weeks later look how big it is and there’s less fuzz and more brown.

The tree has leafed out quite a bit too making it a bit more difficult to see the chick. This is heavily cropped as well.

I’ll keep checking in on it and hopefully, I won’t miss the fledging like I did last year.

Fun Facts-gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

The Red-tailed Hawk has a thrilling, raspy scream that sounds exactly like a raptor should sound. At least, that’s what Hollywood directors seem to think. Whenever a hawk or eagle appears onscreen, no matter what species, the shrill cry on the soundtrack is almost always a Red-tailed Hawk.
Birds are amazingly adapted for life in the air. The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the largest birds you’ll see in North America, yet even the biggest females weigh in at only about 3 pounds. A similar-sized small dog might weigh 10 times that.
The “Harlan’s Hawk” breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters on the southern Great Plains. This very dark form of the Red-tailed Hawk has a marbled white, brown, and gray tail instead of a red one. It’s so distinctive that it was once considered a separate species, until ornithologists discovered many individuals that were intermediate between Harlan’s and more typical Red-tailed Hawks.
Courting Red-tailed Hawks put on a display in which they soar in wide circles at a great height. The male dives steeply, then shoots up again at an angle nearly as steep. After several of these swoops he approaches the female from above, extends his legs, and touches her briefly. Sometimes, the pair grab onto one other, clasp talons, and plummet in spirals toward the ground before pulling away.
Red-tailed Hawks have been seen hunting as a pair, guarding opposite sides of the same tree to catch tree squirrels.
The oldest known wild Red-tailed Hawk was at least 30 years, 8 months old when it was found in Michigan in 2011, the same state where it had been banded in 1981.

I hope you all have a lovely week-end!

Fuji X-T3| Fuji 100-400mm lens| PS CC 23.2.2

more to come…

Whatever Weds. Red-tailed Hawk Immature

September 29, 2021September 28, 2021Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birding in Nevada, PhotographyTagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Fuji X-T3, Red-tailed Hawk, River bends, Truckee River53 Comments

Red-tailed Hawks are the most common hawk in North America and certainly the one I see most often. While birding with the birding group a few weeks ago another lady and I veered away from the group a few minutes to check out another path and saw this Red-tail perched with its back to us. It stayed for a good bit then turned and flew right over our heads. That’s when I got this shot. It’s probably a 1st year since it doesn’t have its red tail feathers yet.

Fun Facts- gleaned from allaboutbirds.org

The Red-tailed Hawk has a thrilling, raspy scream that sounds exactly like a raptor should sound. At least, that’s what Hollywood directors seem to think. Whenever a hawk or eagle appears onscreen, no matter what species, the shrill cry on the soundtrack is almost always a Red-tailed Hawk.
Birds are amazingly adapted for life in the air. The Red-tailed Hawk is one of the largest birds you’ll see in North America, yet even the biggest females weigh in at only about 3 pounds. A similar-sized small dog might weigh 10 times that.

The “Harlan’s Hawk” breeds in Alaska and northwestern Canada, and winters on the southern Great Plains. This very dark form of the Red-tailed Hawk has a marbled white, brown, and gray tail instead of a red one. It’s so distinctive that it was once considered a separate species, until ornithologists discovered many individuals that were intermediate between Harlan’s and more typical Red-tailed Hawks.
Courting Red-tailed Hawks put on a display in which they soar in wide circles at a great height. The male dives steeply, then shoots up again at an angle nearly as steep. After several of these swoops he approaches the female from above, extends his legs, and touches her briefly. Sometimes, the pair grab onto one other, clasp talons, and plummet in spirals toward the ground before pulling away.

Red-tailed Hawks have been seen hunting as a pair, guarding opposite sides of the same tree to catch tree squirrels.
The oldest known wild Red-tailed Hawk was at least 30 years, 8 months old when it was found in Michigan in 2011, the same state where it had been banded in 1981.

The Scrub Jays here mimic the Red-tail Hawk’s call and has been fooling me a lot lately! I’ve been listening to calls so I’m not so easily fooled next time. Ha!!😂

After the group broke up I headed east in search of another bird, but had no joy finding it but, the river was pretty. I saw a few mallards, and Yellow-rumped Warblers and people so headed home for lunch.

The image of the Red-tail looks so bad here on WordPress! I’m beyond frustrated with this happening all the time. I haven’t changed the way I process and resize my images in a decade so it must be WordPress! I need a tutorial! Any help or pointers would be greatly appreciated.

My images look fine and the way I want them to on flickr. Here’s the link to the same image of the Red-tail. https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmzajac2004/51529739409/in/dateposted/

See what I mean? I’m really not happy with WordPress at the moment! Any ideas for a not savvy computer person to fix it?

Fuji X-T3| Fujinon 100-400mm| PS CC 22.5| iPhone 7Plus

more to come…

Wild Wednesday 8/52 Hawk

February 21, 2018February 20, 2018Posted in Bird Photography, birding, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Photography, Wild WednesdayTagged Birding, Birds in the Wild, Perched Birds, Red-tailed Hawk, Wild Wednesday51 Comments

While out birding in Central Valley last month I saw lots of Red-tailed Hawks. This one was happy to pose for me. 🙂 At least I think this one is a Red-tailed Hawk.

Hawk

Red-tailed Hawks are quite common here. Their habitat is wide open fields. They like to perch in trees along fields, fence posts, and telephone poles.

Their Behavior- from All About Birds:

“You’ll most likely see Red-tailed Hawks soaring in wide circles high over a field. When flapping, their wing beats are heavy. In high winds they may face into the wind and hover without flapping, eyes fixed on the ground. They attack in a slow, controlled dive with legs outstretched – much different from a falcon’s stoop.”~allaboutbirds.org

They’re so common here I almost take them for granted. I’m always hoping to spy other types of Hawks instead of them, but when there are none about I’m so happy they’re here.

Sunday, I planned to go out to do some photography at the coast, but the wind was blowing 20-25 mph, and it was cold and gray, so I stayed in and watched Season 1 of Monk. Guess who found Streampix? 🙂 I hadn’t ever watched that show before, but I really like it. I’ll be watching every season til I am caught up. Yep, I’m hooked. 🙂

Recently I’ve also binged watched Vikings, and Camelot. Those are two more T.V. shows I’m now Jonesing for the next season to begin already!

I’m currently reading A Dead Guy at the Summerhouse by Marian Allen who I discovered here on WordPress via Thursday Doors. You can find her here. She writes Sci-fi stuff too. Yeah, she’s right up my street. 🙂 Check her out if you enjoy reading these genres too.

So, what are birds are seeing in your neighborhood, what are watching and reading right now?

Nikon D810| Nikkor 200-500mm| Hoodman Digital Film

more to come…

Wordless Wednesday 7/52

February 15, 2017February 14, 2017Posted in Bird Photography, Birds, Birds in the Wild, Birds of North America, Birds of Prey, Hawks, Nature, Nature Photography, Nikon, Photography, San Jose California Nature Photographer, Wordless WednesdayTagged Birding, Birds, Birds of North America, Hawks, Nature, Nikon, Photography, Project 52, Red-tailed Hawk, Wordless Wednesday29 Comments

Red-tailed Hawk

Nikon D700| Nikkor 200-500mm| Lexar Professional Digital Film| PS CC 2017

More to come…

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