19 | August | 2010 | Texas Tweeties by Bob Zeller

To me there is hardly anything more beautiful than a hawk soaring through the air, on the hunt for prey. I love to photograph them on the wing whenever possible. But I take what I can get. For example the Zone-tailed Hawk pictured here was perched in the rain, getting soaking wet. That was the first one I had ever seen and that, of course, is the only photograph that I have, and I was lucky to get it, as it flew away seconds after I took the shot. The Zone-tailed Hawk is often mistaken for a vulture because of it’s slouching posture when perching and it’s similar flying habits.

wet Zone-tailed Hawk

I have something new for my blog posts now. When I am discussing subjects, such as birds, animals, flowers, etc., I can assign a link, if one is available, to them as in the paragraph above. If you click on any of those links, they will take to you to more in-depth articles. So today I am going to show you some of my hawk photographs.

First up is a Red-shouldered Hawk that I photographed at the Hummer House near Christoval, Texas. Dan Brown, the owner, had put some meat out for it, and after devouring it, the bird perched in the tree.

Red-shouldered Hawk

The following is a Northern Harrier that I photographed at San Angelo StatePark. It was doing it’s usual thing, of flying low over the mesquite and brush. Again it didn’t come close enough to me to get a great picture, but the image that I did get shows the distinct white wide stripe on the lower back and tail.

Northern Harrier

The Cooper’s Hawk and Sharp-shinned Hawk are very similar in appearance except that the Coopers is about 5 inches taller. Other than that, they both are long-tailed and short-winged, and are agile in maneuvering to catch their prey. These two photos were both taken at San Angelo State Park.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

Cooper's Hawk

One of the larger buteo hawks is the Swainson’s Hawk. This one was perched on the cross-bar of a utility pole outside the entrance to San Angelo State Park.

Swainson's Hawk

The buteo to which all other hawks are compared is the Red-tailed Hawk. Similar in size to the Swainson’s hawk but very conspicuous with the red tail. This is one that I was lucky enough to catch in flight, and one of my personal favorites.