The other day I received an e-mail from a birding friend, telling me that she has a pair of Red-tailed Hawks (Buteo jamaicensis) nesting on her land (with nestlings in the nest) and asking me if I wanted to drive over and photograph them. Well, that was a no-brainer for me! The next day, I grabbed my camera and longest lens and headed for her house. When I arrived, Ginny met me and showed me to the best vantage point she had been able to find. We were some distance from the nest, but I was able to get some decent images using my biggest lens (500mm, f/4) and some teleconverters (1.4x and 2x). Here are a few of my favorite images:
In the last image, if you look real closely, you will see that there are 3 hawklets in the nest! Unfortunately, the leaves are coming on strong and beginning to cover up the nest, so it is likely that this is the only opportunity I will have to photograph the little ones … maybe next year! And while I was there, I managed to capture 2 “lifers” … I’ll feature them later.
