I spotted this hawk while I was walking around the barnyard at Middleton Place. He was looking down at me, not much concerned by my presence.
I think this is a Red-shouldered Hawk, probably immature. I moved along and a few minutes later I was alerted that he did, too, as the pigeons that perch on the barn roof took to the air in a frenzy.
October 19, 2021
The Harris’s Hawk can be found in the southwestern United States, through arid regions of Central America and South America. They are one of a few birds of prey known to hunt cooperatively.
This Harris’s Hawk was one of the birds that flew as part of the photography day presentation. It was fascinating to watch but my images weren’t great. I’ve included this one to show his beautiful brown and red colors.
I had much better in flight shots when I participated in this event in November, 2016.
Harris’s Hawk, Parabuteo unicinctus
The Center for Birds of Prey offers photographers an opportunity to take close-up photographs of owls and other birds of prey a few times a year.
The Center for Birds of Prey, Photography Day, April 22, 2018, Awenda, SC.
The sun was quickly warming the day and this Red-shouldered Hawk perched on some dead branches was taking advantage.
Hello, down there! Check out my feet.
This Red-shouldered Hawk was doing something in the grass with his feet. He looked around a little bit, but other than that just his legs were moving. Perhaps he thought he had a snake.
Alas, he did not.
Click on image for larger view.
Surveying his options this Red-shouldered Hawk deliberately checked in every direction.
He was pretty content to sit right there, watching and listening.
I walked down the path and took a shot from a different vantage point; his head and one foot had moved. His feet seem kind of delicate for a raptor.
Click on any image for larger view.
01/16/2018
I heard them long before I saw them while I was walking around one of the ponds near the swamp. They have a plaintive whistle that they tend to repeat over and over, and over. I finally spotted them in separate trees about 150 feet (45 meters) apart, casually watching each other. The path I was on went between them.
A pair in this territory raised three chicks last season. I never saw the nest but after the chicks fledged I watched them on training runs through the trees several times.
My path eventually took me closer to the hawk on my left and a slightly different angle.
These are more shots from a grey day in late December. It snowed here all day today basically leaving the greater Charleston area paralyzed so I’m revisiting some skipped images.
We often walk through the cemetery at Charleston’s Circular Congregational Church when we are in the neighborhood. Filled with trees, it is welcoming to many birds which may be why a Red-tailed Hawk buzzed the area, cruising over my head. He never slowed and I watched his beautiful tail disappear over a wall headed towards Queen Street.
We headed that way too, wondering if he might be perched in a nearby tree. Even better, he was in clear view on the tile roof of one of the old French Quarter homes.
I switched to my long lens and he stayed put while I angled around the front of the building, getting a few views of this temporary king of Queen Street.
Daily life went on below him: post-Irma trash pick up, street repairs, tourists bent on seeing every street but missing the details, a suited business man conducting his business on the phone in the street…nothing seemed to faze him.
We spotted three or four Red-shouldered Hawks today at the edge of the swamp today, mostly sitting in the sun and occasionally calling in their high-pitched whistle.
This one spotted a snack, dropped down to the ground and came back with what appears to be a frog.
He held the frog in his beak for over a minute and the photos don’t show any sign it was alive.
He landed on stick that made for nice photos in the afternoon sun.
I didn’t see the hawk actually eat the frog–he may have dropped it.
If so, he didn’t seem concerned.
Click on any photo for a larger view.
