For the past several weeks I’ve been seeing a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk flying over my neighborhood, which is unusual. Usually, Cooper’s Hawks are about the only larger raptors I see in my suburban neighborhood.
I live about a quarter mile from the Jordan River and I suspected that the red-tail was hanging around the riparian habitat along the river and just occasionally strayed into my neighborhood. So for the last several days I’ve searched many times for the red-tail along the river, with no luck at all.
Until early yesterday morning when I found ‘him’ on a light pole hanging over a major elevated road that runs along the river. I took this photo from the road directly below him, just to get a good look at him and document his presence. On the often-busy road I only had a few seconds to safely take the photo so I couldn’t wait for him to turn his head so there would be better light on his face.
When I came back to the area five minutes later I found him on an old utility pole next to the same road. From here he was hunting the high, steep bank of the elevated road and I was able to pull off the busy road and attempt to photograph him in flight from an adjacent city park.
Twice while I was there he took off from the pole and attempted to catch prey along the road bank. He was unsuccessful both times but both times I was able to get flight shots of him as he returned to the pole to try again.
It was a long way up to the top of the pole so the first time especially, his flight angle was steep.
These first three flight shots are of him returning to the pole…
the first time.
Less than two minutes later he took off after prey again and came back to the pole empty-footed. This time he was flying almost directly toward the rising sun so much of his body was shaded.
Two frames later I got better light on him.
He seemed determined to catch prey from this hunting perch so I had high hopes of eventually photographing him with prey, on the ground below the road and in flight. But circumstances and bad timing put the kibosh on those plans when…
a young man and his dogs came along. This guy was throwing sticks for his dogs and photographing them as they romped almost directly below the pole the red-tail was hunting from. So of course, the hawk vamoosed and my chances for more photos disappeared with him. I’m pretty sure the dog’s owner didn’t even know the hawk was there.
I’m including this photo mostly to show my readers a small part of the steep bank of the elevated road that the hawk was hunting.
Readers know that I’m not particularly fond of photos of birds in flight with plain blue skies in the background but I was still happy to get these flight shots of the red-tail that I’d been trying to find for so long.
Besides, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything to Feathered Photography, so I wanted to let you know that I’m still kicking.
Ron
Hi Ron, I just moved back to Ireland and one of the only things I loved about living in NJ is seeing these singularly cool birds around my neighborhood. I miss seeing them so I got googling tonight and your photos are so beautiful and natural. Thank you. Well done and keep doing it.
I’m late to the party but wonderful to hear you’re alive and kicking! The red tail is a bonus 🙂
I really do appreciate how close you can get to the hawk with a lens. I always want to get closer to observe birds with my own eyes but I know that would scare them off so binocs or the camera is the next best thing.
This is just the kind of post I hoped to see. Sharing with us a bird you saw recently/popping in to say hi. 🙂
So great to see your post and read the story, Ron. The look in that hawk’s eye sure means business.
Yesterday, just after dawn, we had the good fortune of seeing this year’s brood of turkeys foraging for acorns and bugs along the back of the house. I could watch them for hours.
Thank you, Nina. I wish I had turkeys in my yard. On second thought, they’d probably destroy my veggie garden.
Loved seeing the RT but also annoyed by the interloper with 3 dogs. And my usual old person’s comment: Since when is it ok to wear pyjamas outside? And then I think well why not? They are more comfortable than regular clothes. And then I think: Maybe its ok only for the youngsters to do that.
“Since when is it ok to wear pyjamas outside?”
I wondered if anyone would ask that question, Frances. I had the very same thought.
He seemed to love his dogs so I guess that’s what matters most. (although technically the dogs should have been leashed – he was within the city park boundaries, but just barely).
What a treat to see a post from from you. Gorgeous photos with a beautiful October sky for back ground.
Take Care,
Kaye
Thank you, Kaye.
That is a beautiful immature, and I hope “he” will be lucky and wily enough to mature into a beautiful adult. As always, thanks for sharing these photos and narrative.
“I hope “he” will be lucky and wily enough to mature into a beautiful adult.”
I hope so too, Bill. I found him again this morning and I’ve become attached to him already.
So good to see these wonderful photos from you! I have been AWOL from the internet yet still noticed your absence. Wishing you sunny days and photo ops aplenty. Your photos and comments (almost) always cheer me up and leave me happy.
Thank you, Melanie.
Have any recovery tips for a reader who is having L3,L4, L5 and L6 replacement and a lovely, shiny screw installed next week? The reader hasn’t had a nice long walk in 4 years, so hope and survival WILL be “a thing with feathers” (Emily Dickinson was obviously a birder). The reader already got the the long-handled-no-bendy-grabber-claws. Advice is welcome.
Suzanne, check out the second photo in this post:
https://www.featheredphotography.com/blog/2022/09/25/surgery-prep-and-a-more-specific-request-for-reading-suggestions/
It’s what I called my “rope-a-dope”. It’s a rope attached to the wall opposite my bed to help me sit up before getting out of bed. Without it I’d have been screwed during my recovery.
I’m still using my “grabber” to put on my socks.
I wish you the best of luck with your MAJOR surgery!
So excited to see your notification in my inbox and even more excited that you’ve captured this handsome juvenile — and have seen him since! I like reading your captions and descriptions as much as marveling over your wonderful photography. 💕 Seeing Red Tails on your blog always brings my mind to Laura.
Enjoy those end-of-summer tomatoes and other garden treats! I thought of you as we ate through the container of pretty tasty pickled green tomatoes I bought last week at the Original Farmers Market in LA. If it gets too cold, green tomato pickles and fried green tomatoes are definitely worth the picking!
Thank you, Marty. Green tomatoes of any sort aren’t my style. For some reason, just the thought of eating tomatoes when they’re green makes me pucker up.
Thank you for this beautiful encounter with a Red Tailed Hawk. I have followed your posts for quite a while and I’m always happy to see one in my Inbox.
Always a pleasure to see Feathered Photography in my email list! Thanks for the smile, Ron.
Thank you, Ellen.
SO – – Where does the name “red tail” come from? Or is the red just hiding. Good shots none the less – and glad to see you out – doing something you enjoy – again. Take care!
Judy, only adult red-tails actually have red tails. Juveniles, like this bird, don’t.
Great to see you in the in-box! Like others, I worry about him hunting along the busy road. Thanks to Ed MacKerrow for the reminder that they can survive in unlikely places. May this young bird learn and be as successful as Pale Male.
I’m reading Jennifer Ackerman’s 2023 book “What An Owl Knows” – fascinating, and with every page I’m thinking of all your fabulous owl photos documenting these amazing creatures.
Careful with your back!!!
Carolyn, I’ve heard a lot about Ackerman’s book but never read it. Now that I can see again, I just might have to!
Thanks for the photos and posting. When we retire it is hard to find something else to keep us busy. Had a couple of nights of around 32 degrees in my area and snow up there on the mountain. Did you get the garden an flowers taken care of?
“Did you get the garden and flowers taken care of?”
Not yet, Trudy. My back has been giving me fits lately so my yardwork is curtailed, at least for now. Our lowest nighttime temp so far has been 41° so I’m still eating garden tomatoes and a few other things.
How good to find you here again — and with a beloved RT! ❤️ The young ones do have their work cut out for them, learning to develop their hunting skills while avoiding all the dangers that lurk, especially in the not-so-wild urban frontier. Too bad about the dogs’ arrival (and an owner who would never think to “look up” as we bird people always do) — but perhaps you & hawk will both get lucky on another day soon!
Chris, I too think about how the odds are stacked against the survival of young red-tails. I sure hope this one beats the odds.
How good to see you here, if only briefly, and about my most favorite species, Buteo jamaicensis. May more birds fly by your home, and inspire you to turn your camera to them, and that you share.
Thank you, Carolyn. Occasionally, Ospreys and Bald Eagles fly over my house. Maybe I’ll get lucky with some of them down by the river sometime soon.
Love the yellow-eyed stare as he strives upward.
Me too, Sallie. Concentration personified (or birdified).
Just like a dog, you have to take out that R5 to exercise it.
Yeah, that’s about right John!
These are really great photos of the Red-Tailed Hawk, Ron. Very sharp.
It always interests me, and in some ways saddens me, when I see raptors hunting in populated areas. There are some in Santa Fe that perch on poles on the side of a very busy and high speed traffic road. I realized their prey are prairie dogs that have communities in medians and small fields at intersections. They seem to have figured out how to avoid getting hit by vehicles, however, I am not 100% sure of that.
I am sure you have heard the song, “Down Here Below”, by Steve Earle about Pale Male, the famous Red-Tail in Manhattan.
Ed, no, I hadn’t heard that song. Thanks for the link. I enjoyed it.
As I recall, Pale Male survived for over 30 years in New York’s Central Park, which is probably longer than he’d have lived in a truly wild environment.
Just a few minutes ago I saw “my” red-tail again, in almost the same place as yesterday. Hope he does half as well as Pale Male.
Enjoyed the musical interlude, Ed. Thank you for sharing!
Wonderful to see proof of life—yours, and linger with you and the young RTH via your pics and story.telling. Always a pleasure!
Thanks, Elise. Yep, I’m still at it, just not as often as before.
Happy to see you and the RT this morning! Maybe he likes a
hunting ground with fewer competitors ? I hope he’s very careful
in the big city, but maybe it’ll be a smart strategy for him. I chuckled
when I read Michael’s post, having had the same experiences in
trying to share bird/butterfly/rainbow sightings with strangers..
Kris, It’s my modus operandi to avoid initiating conversations like that. Maybe it’s the introvert in me coming out. But if they start the conversation, I’m happy to contribute to it.
Ron, great photos as always and so glad you are still doing what you love.
Thanks, Reid. I hope to keep doing it, maybe just not as often as I used to.
Lovely in-flight captures. Always a pleasure to wake up to your photos.
Good. Thanks, Brett.
So good to see your wonderful photos again! Thank you for sharing these, and I hope you’ll find other treasures to share with us.
Thanks, Noel. I hope so too.
Apparently your ‘hood is where the cool birds want to hang out!
Kathleen, I just wish there were more of them.
So beautiful! We have a guy who cruises thru here now and then. When all the little birds suddenly get quiet I figure our hawk is in the area. I’ve been able to get some nice pics if him! He tends to perch for a while, get real still, and wait for lunch to flutter by.
Thanks, Lois. Sounds like your “guy” might be a Cooper’s Hawk.
Ah, a post! And a RT. It is a good morning. Thank you for the post.
“I’m pretty sure the dog’s owner didn’t even know the hawk was there.”
In the past when I encountered what I saw as an interesting bird sighting, and someone else was in the vicinity, I would try to share it with them. Every time it was met with a puzzled or annoyed reaction, and even if they showed interest, by the time I could get them to look in the right direction the bird would be gone. Then you get the ‘who is this crazy person’ look. Have given up on that practice.
Thanks for letting us know you are still kicking.
Thank you, Michael. This guy was hyper-focused on his dogs. He may not even have known I was there!
Beautiful even if in not the best of circumstances! 🙂 That is a VERY steep bank! I was thinking it was about time for another post…… 😉 I do miss them even while “getting” why your posts are less frequent…… 🙂
Thanks, Judy. My posts shouldn’t always be this infrequent. At least that’s my plan.
Thank you!
Welcome.