Monday, November 17, 2008

Red-tailed Hawk: for Ruby Tuesday


Ah ha!
You can't fool me
I see you in that tree
With a mouse in your beak
And your red tail hanging down
I spied you along the highway
on my way to town
I really should have known better and slowed and stopped when I first saw the shape in the tree top, but while driving I was thinking, "That's a hawk, maybe? I wonder if it is?", and then when driving by I achieved immediate recognition, "It is a hawk!" I do that sort of thing too often, waiting for verification before realizing I should have been camera ready and following up my hunch by stopping anyway, just to be sure. Well, I had to go back. I could see it was still sitting there, beautifully posing for my hungry camera.

But then of course it followed the pattern of all hunted prey. It immediately left before I even had my camera settings ready so I took what I could get in those fleeting moments; a blurry image of a most magnificent red tail!!

Having already celebrated our Canadian Thanksgiving in October, I chose to alter Mary's suggestion of a Thanksgiving theme for this week and have chosen hawk instead of turkey. To check out other Ruby Tuesday postings, just click HERE, or click on the Ruby on the side bar. My appreciative thanks to Mary/the teach for hosting this site.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

That hawk was hiding all right, but talented papazazzi that you are, you got the shot!! Love the tail flip as s/he takes off!

Becky said...

It seems like i do the same thing. Always wait till it's too late. We have Red Tailed Hawks around here, but it just dawned on me that I haven't seen any in a long, long time. I wonder where they went?

Laura W. said...

Fun sequence ....haven't we all been there?

Anonymous said...

I can imagine how fun and exciting it must have been seeing this yet alone managing to get a few shots of it before it flew off.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

Oh, how well I know the feeling of not being ready to capture that perfect shot.You did get some interesting pictures in flight.

Kay said...

It's incredible that you noticed and took these shots while you were driving. Wow!

Chris said...

Hi,
I'm just discovering your blog... It is a very nice and interesting one... I will come back...

Ralph said...

That tail is RED indeed! Even in our suburban neighborhood, we see the hawks in the sky, but never close enough to see the body or tail. But they float with their wings spread but not flapping - they float on the thermals up there, just loitering and looking for their next meal. Happily for our two cats, they stay indoors, unaware of a hungry hawk upstairs...

Anonymous said...

Wow, what an impressive proud predator, well spotted !!

Pia K said...

That's one pretty bird, love the expression of his(?) in the second pic. What a gem of a series.

Anonymous said...

Ann, that was a nice stop you made. Thank you, I have never seen any red tailed hawks and did not know of them before.

My birthday is in October, just a little after your Thanksgiving. We were in the Quebec East Township (Cowansville) one year for that.
..

~Just Me Miranda~ said...

very cool series. Nice shots!

Anonymous said...

They're hard to capture but your photos are stunning!

Mine is, HERE. Have a great week ahead!

gina said...

what a wonderful find! great series.

Rambling Woods said...

On the way to the doctor's office i saw a beautiful one on a pole along the expressway. Gee..I had a camera, but I always yell "hawk" which annoys my husband...They are so beautiful unless you are a squirrel or something...

New Rambling Woods Site

Dianne said...

I love that deborah called you a paparazzi, that is hilarious

even blurry these photos are fantastic

Raven said...

Cool shots. You know this will sound stupid, but I've never seen a picture of a red tailed hawk where the tail actually looked red before. How awesome to have seen this wonderful bird. As always, I enjoyed scrolling down the page and looking at all your beautiful photos. (Liked your blue jay painting too). I'd go further back in time but if I did, I'd never get to all the Ruby Tuesday posts waiting out there... sigh.

Robin said...

Good eye! What a gift too to live where nature is so accessible.

Risa Tzohar said...

Amazing, I doubt I would ever have the patience to get such a photo!

CharmaineZoe said...

Super photos! well done to capture these, love picture 2 especially, you can really see the bird well. We don't have these over here, so it's interesting to see it so well:-)

Unknown said...

A red-tailed hawk! What a capture! I also love the Nature's Jewels picture on your sidebar. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

Happy Ruby Tuesday!

Mary said...

He's a beauty! That tail really shows red. I've had a hawk swooping down in one section of road I travel a lot, but usually I can't stop and take photos. Going to church Sunday the lady in front of us almost hit it on the side of the road and I don't think she even saw it! It flew across the road in front of us and seemed OK. There probably won't be any Turkey in my "T" post unless I find the one photo I got this summer...will have to hunt for it! I don't usually see wild turkeys.

The Zen Birdfeeder said...

Nice post. Enjoyed the opening rap.