Sunday, March 13, 2016

For the Birds




Oh, they are beautiful birds, grackles. 


Until they mob everything.  

You can't see the hanging feeders, but I have gone through 15 cakes of 
suet this week because the grackles have taken over. 


Very few other birds are getting into the yard. 

There were a few cardinals, but they usually eat after the grackles go home. 
A few sparrows and chickadees... and some red-winged blackbirds. 

Starlings are few and far between, the grackles have run them off. 


We have had a few other visitors that don't come really close. 

I hope to put a nesting box up for them this year. 


So, I have been watching for the Big White Bird. 
Everyday when we go down this gravel road, I look for it. 
Remember, I thought it was a pelican or something? 


I took the big lens on my way to church last night, and LOOK! 

It is a huge white hawk... I have never, ever seen them, and they appear 
to actually be from the southern U.S. and Mexico.  What it is doing here 
I do not know, but it is out there again today, we saw it. 

It has a much larger wingspan that the red-tails and red-shoulders that are around here. 


If anyone thinks it is anything else, please tell me.  It is just a beautiful bird. 


On my way home from church, I saw him again. 

Okay, picture this.  I have a HUGE lens, a gift from Keith for my birthday... it is huge... 
I follow two professional photographers on Facebook and youtube... and they 
rarely use a tripod.  I have a beautiful tripod... but I got out of the 
car with this humongous lens on the camera, and I'm in the middle of 
a gravel road, snapping pictures as fast as I can.  I don't take a lot anymore, 
but this bird is too unusual. 
I took a series. 

I'm sure anyone who could see me from a quarter mile away thought I was nuts. 


It ended up in the top of this tree. 

Oddly enough, the red shouldered hawk is in this neighborhood too, but I have not seen it now for ten days. 

I HAVE seen the northern harrier. 


He is so elusive!


He has that distinctive white spot on his tail. 


Let's not forget the cheerful little harbingers of spring, either! 

PEE ESS... AS THE DOGS WOULD SAY....

I just looked more at white hawks... here is what I think I am seeing: 

A Leucistic Red Tailed Hawk that has moved into the neighborhood, however, the wing span IS huge. 



It looks almost like this picture from the web. 



8 comments:

  1. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology doesn't list "White Hawk" as an option, so I looked through all other possibilities on their website. If I had to guess, I'd say it's most likely an extremely light morph Ferruginous Hawk, the largest hawk in North America. (https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Ferruginous_Hawk/id)

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  2. This is so amazing and the first I've seen. If it's moved to the area I hope it brought a mate.

    Fantastic shots. I like the grackles, too.

    May you and Keith have a blessed week.

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  3. Wow, what beautful birdies! I have bunches in my territory too. When the grossbeaks show up, we know Spring is definitely here in my yard.
    Grr and Woof,
    Sarge, Police Commish

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  4. Very cool. Never seen one. We have tons of hawks here.

    Hawk swooped down into a flock of sparrows on Thursday when I was going to lunch with my friend. Birds went every where.

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  5. Your photos are soooooo beautiful of the birds!! Gosh!! Very beautiful.
    love
    tweedles

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  6. You know we love those birdies
    Snorts,
    Lily & Edward

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  7. The shots against the blue sky really make the dark birds stand out (especially that grackle)!

    Keep Calm & Bark On!

    Murphy & Stanley

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