I’ve said before that for me the Rough-legged Hawk is among the most handsome of North American raptors.
1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc
I found this bird perched on some tamarisk just below an elevated road on Antelope Island and was able to get some shots I like as it lifted off. I’ve posted another image of the sequence here.
In late April of this year state park personnel cut down the stand of tamarisk. I fully understand the need to get rid of them because tamarisk is an invasive plant that is widely believed to degrade native wildlife habitat and disrupt the structure and stability of North American native plant communities. That said I will miss them as there aren’t many elevated and attractive natural perches on the island.
Ron
Beautiful shot, can native trees be planted?
Good question Tana but I don’t know the answer. Recently though, park personnel haven’t had much luck planting trees. Last year they planted a bunch of them at the campground but most of them have died.
Ron, you have a way photographing those raptors that really bring out the magnificence in each and every one. Incidentally, tamarisk is quite prevalent along the Rio Grande river in southwest Texas.
Thanks a lot Bob – so nice of you to say. I think tamarisk is almost everywhere in the west where there’s water. We just got back from the San Rafael Swell and it’s so incredibly dry down there that even the tamarisk are croaking.
Are there any native trees that would or had naturally occurred there? In San Diego there were telephone poles which then served as handy perches for raptors, so the place was more inviting to them, which then meant more least terns and their chicks (endangered species) were raptor lunches. And all because that habitat normally didn’t have perches (a marine estuary), but the telephone poles changed that. It’s amazing how complex these things are, and the unintended consequences of our actions. =) Glad you’re being brave about the tamarisk. =)
There’s a few trees but not many, considering the size of the island. There’s some cottonwoods at Garr Ranch and some Russian Olives sporadically and you can see more trees in some of the far off and inacessable ravines. And you’re certainly right about “unintended consequences”. I love the human history of the island – both historic and prehistoric but I’d certainly give up the attractive, elevated perches to have a more natural island. But it’s still pretty darned neat as it is!