I doubt this red-tail was emulating Teddy Roosevelt’s ‘big stick’ ideology but if he had been his rivals would have been duly impressed. I certainly was.
1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
This past spring I photographed this male Red-tailed Hawk carrying nesting material to his nest. The ‘big stick’ he’s carrying is actually most of an entire dried sunflower plant from the previous year. I took many photos of him as he approached the nest but as you can imagine I struggled to get both the bird and the entire sunflower in the frame without clipping or cutting off anything. I was just lucky that the entirety of the plant and the hawk are in the same plane so they’re both sharp enough throughout their length.
Over the years I’ve photographed red-tails carrying nesting material in flight many times but the size of this load was a jaw dropper.
He really struggled to gain any elevation with it and then stay in the air. At first he was carrying the sunflower in his beak rather than with his foot but the weight of the plant combined with its air resistance pulled his head down and back to the point that he couldn’t really see where he was going so he transferred it to his right foot in flight. Red-tails usually carry nesting material in their beaks all the way to the nest but this load was just too big and awkward for that.
And in case you’re wondering, yes he made it all the way to the nest high on a cliff with that load.
Ron
Note:
Just by the nature of the photo the hawk is small in the frame so I’ve made it larger than usual – 1100 pixels on the long side rather than my usual 900 pixels.
Love the shot!
I guess he really was “in the weeds” with that one!
🙂
Well, very late to this party, but I got to read the day’s full commentary, too — always fun observations and good for some guffaws which, these days, are gladly accepted!
I have just one question (if you should see this post so late in the day) — why didn’t you post it last spring?? I would have imagined it would be the kind of shot you couldn’t wait to share … not that I’m complaining, of course, happy to see RT hawks, their offspring, nests & nest materials any time of year! 😬
Good question, Chris.
I took quite a few shots of this bird carrying the sunflower but the ones I looked at last spring weren’t sharp enough for some reason so I didn’t post them. When I was looking at them again last night I found this sharper one that I’d missed back then.
That is one big-ass sunflower stalk! I wonder if some of the other males were having stick envy. 😉
This is one time that I really appreciate a bright blue sky as background.
“I wonder if some of the other males were having stick envy”
I enjoyed and needed that chuckle, Marty. I’m working on a highly frustrating project right now so the levity was appreciated.
Glad I could be of service. 🙂
They are amazing, wonderful photo.
Thanks, April.
Oh my.
A McMansion in the sky.
🙂
Evidently this male wanted to cement his relationship with his female by being an over achiever! Makes me wonder how large their nest was? I’m envisioning a three-bedroom split level The practical me also wonders how impressed the missus was? That sunflower stalk (tree) wouldn’t be too easy to break down into manageable pieces, would it? Some parts would snap easily but others wouldn’t. It all depends on Mrs. Redtail’s decorating plans. He might have gotten a big stink eye for his trouble 🙂
Laura, I’d say the nest was about average size for a red-tail.
What an awesome catch! Your emails are one of the few I always open, and as a novice photographer, I always appreciate your technical notes as I continue to learn more about photographing birds. Thank you!
Thanks for that feedback, Kellie. I’m never sure if I should include some of that ‘photogeek’ stuff so it’s nice to know if’s useful to you.
This photo is awesome! One of those “would never believe it unless I saw it” photos!
Thank you, Heidi.
Can you send him my way? I’ve got “nesting materials” like that up the wazoo right now. Free for the taking.
I’ll let him know…
WOW! I’ve never seen a feat like that! I would have liked to have seen that. The logic on his part to change carrying positions…things like that are fascinating to observe. The RedTails have returned here in full force. Yesterday while driving to and from my daughters (45mi), I saw six in trees or on poles along the way there…it was nice to see that again.
Kathy, luckily many of our red-tails are year round residents.
That is super cool. Wonder if he yanked it out of the ground too, as part of the root is attached too.
Sarah, several times while he was on the ground I saw him tugging at potential nesting material but I can’t remember if he did any tugging with this piece.
WOW! Like Judy, I would like to have witnessed the integration process
he went through, once he got to the nest site. Mighty impressive feat ( and
feet! )
Kris, in my photos of the nest there’s quite a few very long pieces of ‘stuff’ like this piece hanging over the edge of the nest. I’m not sure how much ‘incorporation’ was accomplished.
NEAT! 😀 The drag that created certainly would have been a challenge! Integrating it into the nest must have been another challenge tho guessing the sunflower stalk wasn’t as hard as a branch. Great capture, Ron.
Got a bit of rain last night – not so you’d notice this morning. In theory it will be showery all week….
Yes, the drag (air resistance) must have been significant, as suggested by the angle of the sunflower plant going through the air.
Thinking it was a recent photo as I went down the page, I wondered if the hawk had a new way of subduing prey. So I was amused when I realized you were actually referencing the Teddy Roosevelt quote, even though it was a spring photo. What an amazing load!
Cormorants often pick up sticks from the water that are so big they can’t take off. Until now I hadn’t seen a hawk (or a photo) with anything like that. Amazing that bird and stick arrived safely at the nest.
Nancy, for a while I thought he was going to drop it in flight but he didn’t.
As I saw the photo before reading my immediate thought was – it’s not nesting time yet. Then I saw that it was a photo from the archives. Really neat photo though catching that entire branch with the hawk and against that perfect blue sky. I would say that is a photo to be proud of.
I have seen eagles carrying pretty hefty loads to their nests, and as I mentioned to you a couple years back, have even seen them break dead branches and then carry them.
Thanks, Everett. You’re right, the timing of posting this sure didn’t coincide with nesting season but I decided to go with it anyway.