Friends, this Red tailed Hawk is not a happy camper. Her hackles are raised on the back of her head and her mouth is open, both signs of a bird who is not happy. As she was stroked by the educator she became quiet and her hackles went back to normal. She is a beautiful mature female buteo and minutes after this photo was taken , she was released back to the wild thermals above Hawk Ridge. I am running out of Hawk images, so I need to return to Crex or go back to Hawk Ridge. Hmmmm, such a lovely decision, til Tomorrow MJ
Oct 17
This gallery contains 5 photos.
Friends, this slideshow is various positions of a Goshawk’s wings as he flies back into the wild. Why so many images of the Northern Goshawk, you ask?, Hawk Ridge is the primary migration banding station for Goshawks, meaning that more Goshawks are counted and banded here than anywhere else in North America. During the fall […]
Friends, This hatch year Cooper’s Hawk is peeking around the corner to see where that clicking is coming from (my camera). I love the various poses of these beautiful birds, especially the youngsters. On a sad note, only twenty percent of these first year birds will live to finish the migration north next spring. The feather ruff around his head and his size mark him as a Cooper and his yellow eye says hatch year bird. til Tomorrow MJ
Oct 15
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Friends, to celebrate my fiftieth anniversary (of my 16th birthday) I adopted this Coopers hawk and released him back to the wild. A friend took this image of my release technique. The bird in flight was an ornery Cooper who bit the educator and no one wanted to adopt him. As the educator released him, […]
Friends, Lake Superior, the biggest of the Great Lakes, and also the deepest and coldest. This is an image of the harbor at Duluth Minnesota with a ore ship coming out of the docks and headed north. These ships can be 1000 feet in length. The fall foliage in Duluth is legendary and this is a view from Hawk Ridge where i have been photographing the fall migration of hawks (see previous blogs) so til Tomorrow MJ
Oct 14
This gallery contains 3 photos.
Friends, these redtails represent the various types of redtails in the air, being released after banding, the left image shows an immature male with lots of white showing, the right top shows a mature female with two feathers growing back into her tail, she must have run into a tough challenge and lost part of […]
Friends, this beautiful copper-colored redtail (right below) is a rufous-phase Redtail Hawk and it is estimated that the rufous phase makes up about 5% of the total population of Redtail Hawks. So this is a rather special hawk and his light eyes mean he is a juvenile hawk as the eyes get darker as redtails mature. You can see the difference in the chest color by comparing the rufous (right) to the more traditional redtail (left) in the images below.
Friends, These two Cooper Hawks are examples of a difference in attitude and age. The bird in the top image is younger and calmer than the older and more aggressive bird shown in the bottom image. The difference in the amount of gray feathers shows the relative age with the bird in the bottom image being the older. The raised hackles on the back of the head show more attitude in the older bird. I adopted the bird in the top image and released it back into the wild. The bird in the bottom image bit the educator and was not adopted. In all fairness, there were more birds than people on Hawk ridge yesterday. The sunshine and cooler weather is bringing in the larger hawks now. Lots of Redtail Hawks and an special redtail tomorrow. til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, this is a teenage goshawk who just got his drivers license a few months ago, he hasn’t quite mastered the cornering thing yet. This is a multiple exposure taken on a gray sky day with very little color. While we were on Hawk Ridge, it snowed, foreshadowing things to come. This is a hatch year goshawk talking back, but officer, I was only going 30mph. til Tomorrow MJ
Friends, while sitting on Hawk Ridge watching the leaves turn into fall colors, and waiting for the occasional hawk, this big bird gave us a fly-over. We told him there aren’t any fish on the ridge but he was curious and gave us the once over. This is an adult osprey with a bright yellow eye who was flying northward when all the traffic is southerly. Guess he didn’t get the memo. When ospreys glide their wings are bent slightly at the wrist, as shown in the image below. til Tomorrow MJ
MJ Springett 