Raptors can be ingenious in adapting their hunting techniques and available skills to the terrain they are hunting and this juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk was a perfect example of such flexibility.
I’ve been watching a mated pair of Swainson’s Hawks near Monida, Montana all summer and for several reasons I believe their first nesting may have failed and they started over.
Falcons tend to have long toes but I thought those of this Merlin in flight (2nd image) were especially well seen. Merlins are bird-hunting specialists and they often snag their quarry right out of the air in flight so the bigger “net” they can throw the better.
This is an eclectic group of images but maybe that’s part of the appeal for me. They give me a sense of the variety of my subjects even when my primary goal is birds.
Whenever I visit the northwest Montana farm where I grew up I feel like I’m returning home. It’s been 50 years since I actually lived there but I don’t think that feeling will ever leave me.
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