Janet Brien's photos with the keyword: raptor

Hi everyone! We're having a wonderful time on Vancouver Island! We've seen so many breathtaking sights and lots of "firsts" too. One of my dreams has always been to see a real-live bald eagle and since we've been here, Steve and I have seen at least five of them! In fact, we know what they sound like, isn't that something?! We have been staying at a number of places along the eastern coast of the island (only the lower half on the west shore has been developed) and the last place we visited was the furthest north, just south of Port Hardy at a First Nation campground called Cluxewe Resort. While we were there, we learned that a clutch of Bald Eagle chicks are raised in a nest visible from the campground, but unfortunately the chicks had already grown and flown away. However, I was still in luck! There is a specific tree that is a favorite watching spot for one of the eagles. It happens to be a two-minute walk from our trailer, and as luck would have it, I had my Sony zoom camera with me when the eagle was there! HOORAY!!! This picture is a total "bucket list" shot for me. On this trip we have seen a bald eagle here and there, flying overhead and landing on posts that are too far to photograph ("See that little dot? IT'S A BALD EAGLE, HONEST!!!"). I really would have been fine without a nice picture because we've seen them many times now, but having this picture has totally made my day!! I hope that all of you are doing well! It's a shame that I have no internet most of the time, and in fact, just getting this picture posted took FOREVER. I tried to post it three times last night without success, but finally today I have been able to post it. Pam, I hoped to upload that video I told you about…whatever was I thinking?! HAHAHAHAH…it will just have to wait until we have a better connection. You guys are all on my mind--I wish I could teleport everyone here to enjoy this spectacular place. It really is incredible and gives me a glimpse of what unspoiled splendor of nature actually looks like! Explored on August 17. Highest placement, #1.

This nest is in a perfect place for picture taking! Located near a pullout across the highway along the Applegate Reservoir and situated at the trailhead to "Bigfoot Trap," we spotted a guy with an enormous camera on a tripod, hanging out and taking images. We were on our way to our hike along the Middle Fork of the Applegate River but at the end of the day we made sure to save enough battery and image space to stop and take pictures of this magnificent creature. My husband had 17 pictures left and a blinking empty battery, and my battery had just enough juice to take a dozen pictures with the hopes that at least one would turn out. I got lucky: 2 were very nice, with others not bad! YAYYYY!!!!

This nest is in a perfect place for picture taking! Located near a pullout across the highway along the Applegate Reservoir and situated at the trailhead to "Bigfoot Trap," we spotted a guy with an enormous camera on a tripod, hanging out and taking images. We were on our way to our hike along the Middle Fork of the Applegate River but at the end of the day we made sure to save enough battery and image space to stop and take pictures of this magnificent creature. My husband had 17 pictures left and a blinking empty battery, and my battery had just enough juice to take a dozen pictures with the hopes that at least one would turn out. I got lucky: 2 were very nice, with others not bad! YAYYYY!!!!

I deeply apologize if any of the images in this collage offend or disturb you. It is my wish to educate, not to disgust or horrify any of you. *bows head in respect* I have posted a couple of pictures in the past of one of the Cooper's Hawks that live in our area, and about once a week we'll find one on one of our bird feeders or our porch railing, hoping for a bird to fly into its beak! (By the way, I originally incorrectly identified this bird as a Sharp-Shinned Hawk . It is actually a Cooper's Hawk! Thank you Paul Hauber for your keen eye! :D Now that I think about it, it's definitely larger than the diminuative, but similar-looking Sharpie! :) To illustrate why it's easy to confuse these two birds, take a look at this wonderful picture from Wiki! Side-by-side comparative illustrations of a Cooper's and a Sharp-Shinned Hawk.. ) I'd also like to give thanks to the gang over at BirdForum , who are always so fast and helpful with identification and confirmation! On this day, I came downstairs first thing in the morning and found a Sharp-Shin content and happy near a feeder, and you can see one of the pictures I took on the upper left of this collage. In the afternoon, I went into the kitchen for a snack and did a double-take...the Sharp-Shin was back, and to my amazement, it had a catch on top of the feeder! As I quietly took pictures, I realized that it caught a vole or mouse, not a bird! That actually made us feel better because we dearly love our avian friends who visit every day! The upper right and lower left show the hawk eating its meal, and finally, on the lower right, the last of the vole has disappeared down the hawk's throat and it took off just a second later. I hope that this collage isn't too disturbing to see. It shows the cycle of life and is a reminder that just outside, it's a very dangerous place for the small animals that live here. At the same time, it is an incredible thing to witness the cycle of life taking place before our eyes. This experience was amazing to me and I feel so lucky to have gotten pictures too. I've always wanted to live in the country side, next to wilderness and near animals I would never see in a city. I love to watch the animals here and see how they behave. It's very special to be in a place where you get the chance to see the joy of new life, and although it's very sad for the vole, it was fascinating to witness this successful kill and to imagine the possible baby chicks this meal would help to feed! :) If you would like to know more about Cooper's Hawks, you can find a great source of information here: Wiki: Cooper's Hawk .If you would like to know more about Sharp-Shinned Hawks, you can find a great source of information here: Wiki: Sharp-Shinned Hawk . This image was taken in April, 2012.

I looked out the window today and found this gorgeous hawk sitting on one of our feeders. We get to see hawks sitting on our bird feeders fairly often, but usually we don't have time to get pictures. This lovely bird, who I expect we've photographed before, stayed there for many moments and allowed me the time to take many images with the hopes that just one would come out! Happily, I got a few winners and this is my pick! :) It never fails to amuse me that these gorgeous predators seem to think a finch or junco will just fly over to get some seeds while such a menace is lording over the feeders! Within a minute of its departure, a bold junco alighted upon a feeder and began munching away, giving an understoond all-clear signal when it wasn't gobbled by a predator on the wing! I have 3 pictures in my upload today, I hope you will see them all! :) Thanks to all of you who have visited and have left comments and favorites! I try to go to all of your pages within a day or two and is a highlight for me to see your beautiful photography! :) This image was taken on Friday, December 30, 2011.

Looked out the kitchen window yesterday and found this stunning hawk sitting comfortably on top of one of our bird feeders. The focus is a little soft, but at least I got the image before it flew away, low across our meadow.

Photographed near our bird feeders

This image was taken by my husband, Steve!

[best appreciated at full size against black] If you look out our kitchen window above our sink, you'll see our bird feeders, the beautiful big meadow beyond, and the large Oak tree there, which we have a great fondness for. This tree is a favorite for the birds which live here and visit for the season, and it's also a place where raptors will sometimes land! A few months ago, I looked out and spotted a large bird on the top branches of the tree. I grabbed my trusty Canon SX30 with its 35X zoom and managed to get this picture!! It's not the best quality, but I thought it was good enough to share with all of you. We feel extremely fortunate to have birds like this viewing our area as their territory, and as you can see, this is a very large bird!! Breathtaking and huge, the Red-Tailed Hawk measures 18-22" high with a wingspan that reaches 42-56"...that's nearly 4-5 FEET from wingtip to wingtip!!! They are amazing! Females are 25% larger than males, which is how the birds can be sexed. This is a female and we see her flying around about once a month. I saw her this morning, in fact, so I thought it would be the perfect time to post her picture! These birds are common throughout North and South America and because they have adapted so well to human encroachment on wilderness, can be found everywhere, including cities! In fact, when I was in San Francisco last September, my friend and I were in Golden Gate Park and witnessed a Red-Tailed Hawk dive out of the sky right in front of us and nearly catch a songbird in a nearby tree. It landed in a tree where we watched it for the few seconds it stayed before flying off again. What a truly remarkable bird! If you would like to know more about Red-Tailed Hawks, Wiki has a super page here: Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) This image was taken in February, 2012.

[best appreciated at full size against black] Steve and I are incredibly fortunate to live in such a lovely area of southern Oregon. We live about 25 minutes from the nearest town and there are perhaps 50 people in a mile radius from our house. It is very rural, very wild, and very close to nature here, and that means we get visits from many wild animals that stay away from urban areas. This beautiful raptor is one of the several birds of prey in our area and every once in a while, a Cooper's or Sharp-Shinned Hawk will land on one of our bird feeders, our deck, or, as illustrated by my beautiful model, our bird bath! Steve and I are always amused at these silly birds. Do they actually think a bird will just fly into their beak? :D It's always a ghost town around here after the raptor flies away...for about five minutes, that is! Then it's back to little birdies yelling at each other about the best spot for eating, birds getting back to flinging seeds merrily to the doves on the ground below, and happiness returns! And if we're lucky, Steve or I will have gotten a picture like this to share with all of you! :) If you would like to know more about Sharp-Shinned Hawks, you can find a great source of information here: Wiki: Cooper's Hawk . This image was taken in March, 2012.

My alternate is from lunchtime today! Steve was making sandwiches when he saw this beauty land on one of our bird feeders. It stayed long enough for me to grab my camera and take some pictures! I wished I had time to use the 300mm lens and tripod but at least I got this one! :)

This afternoon I came downstairs with Pumpkin (my parrot) and I saw a flash of something out the kitchen window. A tiny Sharp-Shinned Hawk had just landed on one of our plant hooks, hoping for a finch or junco to fly up to one of our bird feeders for a snack. My camera was right there so I grabbed it and started taking pictures while Pumpkin proceeded to crawl from my hand up to my shoulder and down the other arm to my camera...silly bird! After about a minute the hawk flew off and it was then I realized to my horror that I'd left the ISO at 1000 from this morning!! I was taking pictures of the sunrise and needed the higher ISO because I didn't have time to set up a tri-pod...and I didn't set it back. DRAT AND BLOODY H...well you get the drift! When I looked up, the hawk was back again! However, this time it was on a pole about 20 feet further away. I lowered my ISO and got a bunch of pictures, but when I compared all the shots on my computer, the best pair were with the high ISO...go figure! Anyway, I had to deal with a lot of noise and you'll see it in the wings, but I was able to alleviate most of it. This picture is another example of having a separate layer for the bird and another for the background. The background is smooth and noise-free and has only a bit of tint in it with soft vignetting. The bird has only as much noise reduction as I could get away with before I started losing too much detail. I then applied a light detail filter. Charles Robert Darwin, (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Wikipedia: Charles Darwin Explored on Flickr on February 27, 2013. Highest position: #85.

Talk about a funny position!! I managed to get this picture just as the Sharp-Shin spotted something and took off like a bullet! All it needs is a cape!

Yesterday was a lucky day for flying birds! I got a wonderful image of the turkey vulture I shared yesterday, and I also got several pictures of a pair of Red-Tailed Hawks that were circling on the thermals along the ridge line. I was delighted when they flew close enough to get some reasonable pictures! If you would like to know more about Red-Tailed Hawks, Wiki has a super page here: Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo jamaicensis)