2017 RETROSPECT / 2


Red-tailed Hawk with roadkill

Photographs bare our memories and while looking through the images from last February I was reminded how little snow we had on the ground last winter. I had reported about this Red-tailed Hawk not giving up a dead raccoon, which was probably killed by a car, when I stopped on the other side of the road and started shooting. The hawk had a large injury on its chest but was otherwise acting very normal. I just can assume that the bird had contact with a car as well. This was the only picture where the hawk stared right at me but I like the shot just because of the direct eye contact. This is not always a good thing but I think in this matter it tells the story how the Red-tailed Hawk stood its ground.

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Red-tailed hawk with raccoon -------------  

It was time to visit one of my favorite locations for wildlife photography along the big river again. I haven’t been in the Green Island Wetlands since last fall and today we finally were able to see the sun again. I hardly ever come back from this location with an empty memory card but this time not much was going on. A little further south, along the road to Sabula, Iowa I found this scene. This Red-tailed Hawk was all over a dead raccoon, obviously a road kill, and didn’t give up on it, even after I stopped the car and started shooting. However, it wasn’t until I looked at my photos at home on the computer that I realized that the hawk had a deep injury on its chest. I just can assume that a collision with a car caused the wound. The hawk seemed to act normal and I just can hope that this injury may not effect its ability to hunt for food. At least this raccoon was claimed…