JUVENILE RED-TAILED HAWK, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, APRIL 1, 2010
Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 120mm
1/90 sec. f11
ISO 400
JUVENILE RED-TAILED HAWK, CHICAGO BOTANIC GARDEN, GLENCOE, ILLINOIS, APRIL 1, 2010
Pentax K20D
SMC Pentax-DA 55-300 at 300mm
1/60 sec. f11
ISO 400
At first I thought this was a juvenile bald eagle, a bird I've been trying to photograph for four years in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and I identified it as such in the original blogpost. Not an eagle, said a visitor to this blog, but a hawk of some kind. Further investigation reveals that it is indeed a hawk, a juvenile red-tail.
9 comments:
Spectacular! Henry, getting these photos is a lot like playing golf -- you make that one memorable sweet shot straight down the fairway, and it keeps you coming back to try for more.
Hey Henry,
Really nice shots! But keep on looking to capture that bald eagle in the UP - judging from its beak, this bird looks more like a hawk of some sort to me. BTW, better get up to the lake soon, summer is almost over up here.
At first I thought this might be a red-tailed hawk -- the juveniles of that species look very much like those of the bald eagle, at least in the photographs on the Internet.
But the bird I photographed was a big one, more than 2 feet from head to claws. It looked eagle-sized to me.
Also, the gardeners at the Botanic Garden identified the bird as an eagle and said it had been around for several days.
It would be nice if some ornithologist could set us straight.
I've sent the two photos to the Cornell Ornithology Lab asking for identification. Let's hope it deigns to answer.
April 4: The mystery is solved. It's a juvenile red-tailed hawk, common in the Midwest. It's big, but nowhere near as big as an eagle.
I encountered it again this morning on a visit to the Botanic Garden, and a passing birder spotted it at the same time and gave the ID.
Ahaa!
All right, Hermit, go ahead and gloat.
By the way, the Cornell ornithology lab got back to me. One identifying field mark, it said, was the band of dark feathers across the bird's belly. Add to that the barred tail feathers of the typical red-tail juvenile.
No, no. No gloating here. More like just a Yooper "eureka" or "ya 'ey" maybe, huh?.
These are fantastic!!!
(I am catching up on your blog - haven't visited any blogs for ages and now going through 226 of them on google reader!!! )
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