Virginia Winter Birds: Red-Shouldered Hawk
January 27th, 2011
The Red-Shouldered Hawk is a buteo: a short-tailed hawk. The most well-known North American bird in that category is the Red-Tailed Hawk. It favors open land whereas the Red-Shouldered Hawk favors forests. In Ottawa, the Red-Shouldered Hawk is thought of as a rare and reclusive bird, found only in true wilderness. (The endangered Leitrim Wetlands, a remnant tract of mature forest in the south end, is one place where they've been known to breed.) I've never seen one here.
Oddly enough, I had a grand total of six Red-Shouldered Hawk sightings on this trip, and zero Red-Tailed Hawks! This species is clearly more common in Richmond than I realized, and in winter it comes out of the forests (some of them do, anyway) and readily dwells in developed areas. One individual seemed to be spending the season in the vicinity of Deerfield Drive.
I was shooting into the sun here. But I think the silhouetted flight photo is kind of compelling.
January 27th, 2011
The Red-Shouldered Hawk is a buteo: a short-tailed hawk. The most well-known North American bird in that category is the Red-Tailed Hawk. It favors open land whereas the Red-Shouldered Hawk favors forests. In Ottawa, the Red-Shouldered Hawk is thought of as a rare and reclusive bird, found only in true wilderness. (The endangered Leitrim Wetlands, a remnant tract of mature forest in the south end, is one place where they've been known to breed.) I've never seen one here.
Oddly enough, I had a grand total of six Red-Shouldered Hawk sightings on this trip, and zero Red-Tailed Hawks! This species is clearly more common in Richmond than I realized, and in winter it comes out of the forests (some of them do, anyway) and readily dwells in developed areas. One individual seemed to be spending the season in the vicinity of Deerfield Drive.
I was shooting into the sun here. But I think the silhouetted flight photo is kind of compelling.
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Mike
January 28th, 2011 at 11:05 am
Solid-looking fellow, isn't he?
Suzanne
January 28th, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Yup. Very similar shape and size to a Red-Tailed Hawk, but the tail is slightly longer.
Also, I think he's well-fed :-)
gabriel_le
January 28th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
I find hawks quite beautiful.
pecunium
January 29th, 2011 at 1:50 am
The detail in the shading of the silhouette is what makes it.
It makes it quite well.