Yesterday’s Birds

January 18, 2021January 18, 2021 Timothy Price43 Comments

Moon in Tangle Heart Tree at sunset

We have cloud cover tonight with snow predicted by early morning. Therefore, I’m posting the birds I photographed yesterday.

Flicker at the tiptop of Susan’s Tree at dawn.

Actually, there were two flickers at the tiptop of Susan’s Tree at dawn.

The other flicker.

Owls’ Backs

The Canadian Geese complained that I have not been giving them enough attention.

The Pter in a tangle.

Downy Woodpecker

Grazing

Cooper’s Hawk in the top of a cottonwood between the clearwater ditch and the irrigation ditch.

Travel Photo Challenge Day 5 Birds Birds Birds

December 26, 2020December 26, 2020 Timothy Price35 Comments

I’m a Bald Eagle and I approve this post.

I took a break from putting this post together to go out a see what was going on in the bosque and river. A Bald Eagle flew over in approval of this post. The clouds approved also, forming a pterodactyl being chased by a chimera.

My photographer of the day is Lukas Kondraciuk with Through Open Lens at https://throughopenlens.com/. Lukas does wonderful bird photographs, tells really bad jokes, and always has interesting facts about whatever he posts.

Pterodactyl and Chimera in the clouds.

Jupiter with 3 clear moons and maybe one faint moon, and a moon peeking out from behind Jupiter on the top right. Saturn is slowly diverging, moving further away each night.

For Day 5 of the Travel Photo Challenge, I present you with a whole bunch of photos of a Gray Hawk, a Barn Owl, and a group of Harris Hawks. In October 2017, we drove to Tucson for a Linguistics conference. On the way home, we stopped by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The museum has a raptor free-flight exhibit, which we happened to be just in time for.

Gray Hawk, also known as the Mexican goshawk.

When Barney the Barn Owl flew out of the aviary, all the crowd went “Aaahhh! How cute!” He is certainly adorable. He flew silently between perches entertaining his adoring crowd.

The stars of the show we experienced were the Harris Hawks. Four Harris Hawks performed for the finale of the free-flight show. Harris Hawks have made a regional adaptation to the harsh conditions in the Sonoran Desert by hunting in groups. The Sonoran Desert is the only place that Harris Hawks have been observed hunting and working together in groups. Their distribution in the US is limited to southern Arizona, southeastern New Mexico, and southwest Texas. Their larger distribution is throughout most of Mexico, the west coast of Central America, and the lower elevations of South America. Free flight shows are great for photographing these raptors because they are close enough to get a lot of detail and action shots.

Free Fall

March 23, 2020 Timothy Price26 Comments

010O0348 — Red-Tailed Hawk free falling from a cottonwood.

Cooper’s Cry

August 1, 2019 Timothy Price18 Comments

We where walking on the levee well after sundown, when we heard a cry that sounded somewhat like a monkey. We looked in the trees, but could not see who was crying. Then we saw a bird jump from branch to branch. Finally a Copper’s Hawk settled on a branch where we had a better view, and I was able to get photos of it through the branches and leaves. It jumped to another branch where it was mostly hidden, but then a much larger bird, flapped it’s wings closer to the Cooper’s Hawk; but it remained hidden behind branches and leaves. The Cooper’s Hawk flew back to another branch where I was able to get another photo of it before it took off into the bosque. A Great Horned Owl (possibly Virginia) flew out from behind the branches and leaves into the bosque a few moments later. I presume the owl was after the Cooper’s Hawk’s chicks and the Cooper’s Hawk was trying to distract the owl with it’s crying. Great horned owls are three to four times larger than Cooper’s Hawks, and could easily make a meal of an adult Cooper’s Hawk, which is probably why the Copper’s Hawk was not attacking the owl.

0A6A0730 — Checking out the paparazzo or the owl or both of us.

Common Black Hawk

May 15, 2019May 15, 2019 Timothy Price16 Comments

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I was walking out to the bosque when I saw a large bird in the distance. I could not tell what it was backlit against the sky, but the white band on the tail was easy to see, which made me think it might be a Bald Eagle. However, when I enlarged to photos on the computer, I could see it was not a Bald Eagle. By the size, dark color and the two white bands on the tail, I thought it was a Harris’ Hawk with a snake. However, Susan Hunter pointed out it’s a Common Black Hawk.

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Cooper’s Hawk

January 9, 2019January 9, 2019 Timothy Price14 Comments

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While walking through a thickly tangled part of the bosque, I came face to face with a Cooper’s Hawk. He sat very still, like maybe I wouldn’t notice him, but when he heard my shutter click, he flew off before I could get another shot.

Red-Tailed Hawk

January 6, 2019 Timothy Price18 Comments

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One, Two, Three Red-Tailed Hawks

December 5, 2016December 5, 2016 Timothy Price7 Comments

http://photos.tandlphotos.com/blog/2016/12/one-two-three-red-tailed-hawks

Cooper

May 30, 2014May 29, 2014 Timothy Price15 Comments

A Cooper’s Hawk in the bosque by the Rio Grande near Alameda Bridge.

The Animals

October 29, 2013 Timothy Price24 Comments

As I mentioned yesterday, the Blacksmith Wold Championships was held at the Wildlife West Nature Park and Rescued Wildlife Zoo east of Albuquerque. Today’s photos are of some of the rescued animals they have at the park. These animals have been hit by cars, caught in traps or injured in some way that makes it difficult or impossible for the animal to survive in the wild. Of course, in the rescue zoo, they are well fed and cared for, so all the animals are fat and healthy.

In photographing zoo animals, especially birds, there’s the issue of the wire on their enclosures. When I can, I put my lens up against the wire to reduce the wire’s visibility, so I end up with varying degrees of soft focus, streaks or the visible wire. The challenge is making the wires and habitats work in the composition, and as part of the effects of the photos. I don’t remember the names of all the birds, but the animals (in order) are coyote, raven, bobcat, hawk of some type, coyote with humans, great horned owl, mountain lion, golden eagle, raccoon, vulture, Mexican wolf, roadrunner, gray fox, hawk or falcon of some type, and a peregrine falcon.