Raptors I Have Known: Photo Gallery #2

They eat, prey, and I love. Plus: suitable music by The Byrds and The Hawks.

A couple of weeks back, for the first gallery of my photographs, I took you around the world (as a summer preview) from Japan to Bodega Bay. Today, one of my obsessions of the past couple of years: Birds of Prey. With musical Hawks and Byrds down below. Enjoy, then share, tweet, comment or subscribe (it’s still free).

Raptors

As a prologue, here I am handling a hawk at my first raptor show three years back, photo by my wife. Dig the look on the handler’s face, like, “What have I done???”

So let’s start small, with the cutest and smallest falcon, the American Kestrel, known for its uncanny ability to hover in place over a field while looking down for a mouse or other juicy victim.

And threatening to take flight here….

His big brother, Peregrine Falcon—merely the fastest creature on the planet—might be asking us mortals, below: Well, what can you do? (Note: All birds in such programs are held captive only because they suffered some sort of injury, and even when healed their vision or wings are too compromised to survive in the wild.)

Another pretty cool guy or gal.

Okay, let’s watch larger raptors in flight or at least in nature. First, a magnificent osprey sailing over our deck at Cape Cod last year—after hovering almost in place, in a wind storm, down the beach for many minutes searching for game below.

Last year we had the first hawkish visitor to our back yard—that we know of—just yards away, and it was a wonderful Cooper’s Hawk. He looks pretty dignified here but he had just polished off a small bird—we will spare you the images. Here he/she has trapped me in a stare down.

Also last year we had the unexpected pleasure of meeting at close hand a local Red-Tailed Hawk at the Greenbrook Sanctuary in New Jersey….

Peregrine over the Hudson

Now, on to owls. Everyone from 9 to 90 loves ‘em. They have incredible night vision, they can rotate their heads 270 degrees but, contrary to their reputation as being “wise” they are actually not all that bright. But this fella is letting us know that he never happy to pop out of travel box and see a bunch of yokels staring at him.

More “wise” guys.

Love this guy in his “cape.”

Well, nothing tops the king of birds, the Bald Eagle, here posing with all of his deserved confidence.

And with a mere human. Imagine this wingspan.

Song Picks

Tempted to go with The Eagles here but….nah. We’ll stick with The Hawks backing Dylan before they became The Band, and then The Byrds with three songs live in 1965.

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