All birds are fun to look at, but like most birdwatchers, I get a special thrill out of birds of prey. Lately there have been some very cool shots of raptors with the birdcam, and I wanted to show a few of them here.
The Red-shouldered Hawk is the most-commonly seen diurnal raptor with CONE Welder, and any time it shows up is a special occasion. I don’t think I previously posted any shots from this very cool appearance it made back on October 9, 2009. Here’s a gorgeous shot by txbird:
Here’s a pensive shot, also taken by txbird, this time from a little over a week ago, January 29, 2010:
usabirder got this great shot on February 2:
Earlier today (February 7, 2010), tinyang got this fantastic shot of the Red-shouldered Hawk “mantling”. I wonder if there was a prey animal under there:
Less-commonly seen with the camera, and hence more exciting (especially if you’re a small songbird), is the Cooper’s Hawk. Here’s a shot tinyang took on February 25, 2009:
Here’s another shot that rafa took on the same day:
This shot was taken on January 31, 2010, by achadamaia:
This interesting closeup was taken 11 seconds later, also by achadamaia:
Finally, no CONE Welder bird of prey roundup would be complete without a shot of Hooty, the Barred Owl, the first bird of prey photographed with the camera. Here’s a neat shot taken by amaranth on the evening of January 27, 2010:
As far as the Mantling shot goes, I saw the hawk fly off after the wonderful “mantling” show, and did not look like it had prey with it, but I’m not entirely sure.