It’s quite a remarkable feeling to see eye to eye with a Red-tailed Hawk.
I found this big guy perched on a lamppost at the North Carolina Museum of Art a few days ago. He watched me but remained completely calm as I crept in a little nearer for a shot.
The thing with birds is this, you’ve got to move slowly. Sudden moves increase tension and can stimulate the flight response in raptors. There is not a single detail that’s missed by the keen eyes of a Red tail, thus forethought and fluidity of movement is key when trying to get a good portrait of one at *relatively close range.
These large hawks are a common sight across the United States with a range stretching from coast to coast. There are 16 different subspecies of Red tails with varying degrees of differences in the colors of their plumage. Some are dressed nearly in all black, others are noticeably paler than the rest.
All are freak’n gorgeous IMO 😉
Photo by @sally_siko of @birdwatching_nc on the fabulous full frame SLR, the @canonusa
#5Ds