Julie's Magic Light Show

I've been looking to get this photograph for a long time now. This red-shouldered hawk (which for the longest time I thought was a red-tailed) has been hanging out in this exact same tree for months now, and every time I get close enough to get it in flight, it's either backlit or moves too quickly, or I move too slowly.

This time, I didn't even know it as there until it started screaming at the blue jays which were dive-bombing it on occasion. So I just grabbed the camera and kept taking pictures. This time, I could tell when it was ready to take flight and just kept taking shots hoping one would work.

Sometimes you just get lucky.

2 comments

Comment from Kelly (Monday, June 11th, 2007)

I am wondering if I can use this photo or if you have others of the red shouldered hawk? I am doing a presentation on endangered species and need to get access to such photos from the Carolinian zone. thanks so much.

Comment from Geoff LeBaron, Williamsburg, MA (Friday, April 13th, 2007)

I got very good looks at the bird, both perched and in flight, and at one point it flew directly over my head about 15 feet up. The only thing I didn't get to experience was the voice--it never called for the 1/2 hour or so I was there. It was pretty actively hunting, and would disappear for some periods of time, so it's not like I watched it in total for that amount of time.

I feel even more certainly that this is an adult Red-tailed x Red-shouldered Hawk. The soaring behavior and such is very much like a Red-tail, but the way the bird seems to hunt is much more similar to a Red-shouldered. And looking down on the bird as it dove away (which I got to do at one point) it appears to have a hint of red epaulets, as well as the rusty barring on the breast. Also it seems long-tailed for a Red-tail, again more toward the shape of a Red-shouldered.