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The Military

Journal Shadow Wrought's Journal: Red-tailed Hawk 10

Journal by Shadow Wrought
While out for my lunchtime walk yeserday I had a Red-tailed Hawk land on a railing about ten feet from where I was. He was in the bottom left corner of that rectangular area, and I was by the railing but not as close to the benches (the darker brown rectangles). Way cool.

As I was walking by I caught movement and turned just in time to see him catch his descent with his wings, just as his talons came out to grip the metal railing. He pulled in his wings, fluttered his tail and then looked over at me. Our eyes met briefly before he turned back to the river. I was obviously not a threat as I was able to walk a couple feet closer to him. An older guy on a bike rode up quietly next to me and we shared the scene silently. After several moments more than I was expecting, the hawk moved on. He pushed off with his legs and caught the wind with wings, gliding down close to the water's edge before flapping for altitude and heading out of sight.

I think that's the the third time in my life I've cursed myself for not always having a camera on me...

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Red-tailed Hawk

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  • You have painted a beautiful image of such a magnificent creature. Thank you for sharing - I really needed this tonight.

  • Red Tailed Hawks are pretty common where I used to live, Arizona. I really loved seeing them out in the desert. The closest I ever got to one, I was sitting on a point of rock that looked out over a ravine that ran through a bunch of hills. I was watching down below, and saw him fly in front of me moving from my right to my left. I watched him as we swung around and came towards me. It looked like he was going to land right on me- so much so that I threw up my arm in front of my face, as he went by jus
    • Wow! Before this the closest I had ever been was in California when they would fly by the house. Once one flew by with a snake in its talons. It was still writhing as the hawk flew over!
      • That is cool to see. I don't know what it is, but seeing a bird flying with prey in talon is awesome. I've seen eagles and hawks catch trout before and it was really neat.
         
        This last summer, we were driving out to Cocoa beach and as we were on a bridge over the banana river, I saw an Osprey carrying a fish that looked almost as big as the bird. It was amazing.

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