Saturday provided a perfect sky for watching hawks, but the birds were high and few. Still, a few hours on Putney Mountain trumps most other fall activities, such as getting the house and yard ready for winter.
Red-tailed Hawks are moving south, as are the Turvey Vultures, a sure sign that winter is approaching. This is not a crisp photo of the Red-tailed Hawks, but it shows all of the marks of the Eastern Red-tail - the belly band, dark head, dark wing tips, and of course the red-tail.
When the oak leaves turn to rusty red, fall is on the wane, and winter is not far off.
Good birding!
Red-tailed Hawks are moving south, as are the Turvey Vultures, a sure sign that winter is approaching. This is not a crisp photo of the Red-tailed Hawks, but it shows all of the marks of the Eastern Red-tail - the belly band, dark head, dark wing tips, and of course the red-tail.
When the oak leaves turn to rusty red, fall is on the wane, and winter is not far off.
Good birding!
The local bird clubs are having Hawk watches lately but I am not comfortable id-ing Hawks in flight. Your description and picture helps id the Red Tailed hawk. Nice post and thanks.
ReplyDeleteChris, yes winter is indeed on its way. I keep looking at the numbers of Red-tailed Hawks and Turkey Vultures coming down from Canada and they are exiting real fast!!! Time of mittens and hot cocoa soon!
ReplyDeleteLove your Red-tailed Hawk picture as it really shows the birds field marks well.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteThis is so strange to speak about hawk watching for me as we cannot really have that here... The raptors are quite rare in Iceland and very localized. I know there is a merlin and a gyr falcon turning around my area but I never managed to get really close to them, or let's say close enough to get a pictures, even a flying one... you are so lucky to see so many of them!