![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-1233-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-1233-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nThis is one of two young siblings “walking the pipe” as it tries to develop its coordination. A year ago I posted photos of one of them doing this but all 9 of\u00a0these images are new to my blog. The photos were taken on July 4th of last year. I don’t know the sex of this bird but for the sake of convenience (and equality after using\u00a0“he” so often in the past)\u00a0I’ll refer to it as a female.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 255mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n The pipe is part of an enclosure protecting a small spring from cattle damage and the newly fledged hawks were using it in an apparent attempt to improve their balance and coordination. Believe me they needed it. With the two joined pieces of pipe it was probably about 50′ from one end to the other and this bird was determined to walk\u00a0the entire distance without falling off.<\/p>\n Here she had just landed after a short hop on the pipe\u00a0but she walked the entire rest of the way.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 255mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Here\u00a0she was\u00a0still recovering\u00a0from the hop and checking out the welded bend in the pipe\u00a0she would soon have to negotiate.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 255mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n She\u00a0made it past the bend just fine and plowed right through some of the grasses actually touching the pipe.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 255mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n She was very deliberate in placing each foot in the center of the pipe as she walked. If foot placement was\u00a0off-center she slipped.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 255mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Now we finally see her goal where the pipe ends and another one takes a sharp left turn.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 255mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n She has her eye on the prize.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 255mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Success! And she did it without quite falling off, although once she came very close.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 255mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n From here she took off straight ahead and landed next to her sibling on the hill right in front of her.<\/p>\n But just a few minutes later one of the siblings (I don’t know which one) flew down and landed on the “beginning spot” of the pipe as if to repeat her performance. But this time\u00a0the bird\u00a0took the easy way out and…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 320, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM @ 312mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n chose\u00a0to fly from one end of the pipe to the other rather than walk it again. I had to rotate this image to get the pipe level so I was only able to leave a tiny sliver of\u00a0it at bottom but it’s enough for you to see how close she was to the pipe.<\/p>\n My guess is it was the same bird and at the last minute\u00a0she decided she\u00a0didn’t want to run the gauntlet again. I\u00a0have to wonder how many times these birds did this when I wasn’t there.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is one of two young siblings “walking the pipe” as it tries to develop its coordination. A year ago I posted photos of one of them doing this but all 9 of these images are new to my blog. <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-1235-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-1235-ron-dudley\\"")
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