Can't Help It! More RT Hawks!

[Loupey]

When they are around, I just can't stop following them

These are from yesterday of 3 different RT's. The last one is cropped significantly of an ISO 800 image near sunset.

[payn817]

Well, soon the little creepies will be out and you'll be back to macro. Are you releaing mice in the fields again?

[Copy_Kot]

Hey Loupey, did you get a look at the back side of the first hawk? It looks like it might be a light morph... I would love to get a shot of a hawk in either a dark or light morph!

I like all of these, especially the wing position of number four.

[Loupey]

LOL, Payn - it looked more like a guinea pig that he caught! I figure I'll give the birds my attention through the breeding season; then I'll switch gears. Then again, I usually just go out with no particular subject in mind

Morph? Copy, your bird knowledge is better than mine. The part of the field where I got the first image is smaller and the hawks never came down (too many other people). So I didn't get a better look at the specific #1 bird.

[Copy_Kot]

Loupey, hawks have typical color patterns for each species, but some have variations in color called a morph. A rough-legged hawk is usually a light colored bird, but sometimes they are very dark in color... a dark morph. Red-tails can go either way and be either a dark, or light morph. My Sibley guide say they can even be albino.

I saw a red-tail in NJ once that was almost completely white, it had red-tail feathers and a few regular colored head feathers but that was it... coolest looking bird I've ever seen.