All of the raptor photos in this album were taken at the seasonal Raptor Free Flight Exhibit at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The raptors are guided from natural perch to perch by handlers over a 4-6 acre area surrounded by the museum grounds. The birds are often flown over the viewers heads and they pass quite close. Not a bad seat in the house. It's a very popular photo op. Scrum8 Has some excellent photos as well. Since a picture is worth 1,000 words, I put this little album together for you to sort of give you an idea of what's going on.http://public.fotki.com/cpeterson/free-flight-raptor-/Thank you for taking the time... ChristopherNote: Ravens appear in the exhibit to demonstrate the differences between raptors and non-raptors. They also provide some comic relief.
The banding of the hawks was done by E. Urban and B. Mannan of the Uof A. Maybe a clue to finding the studies. I'll try to remember to ask around next time I'm at the gardens.
Yes. Cooper's Hawk. They have been nesting in the central citiy at the Botanical Gardens for several years and have been the focus of several studies on urban hawks. I can not cite the studies however, I will be glad to track the info down if you are interested. There is a large pine and sycamore on the southwest corner of the grounds that they seem to prefer. I'm not sure if this is one of the original breeeding pair or one of the offspring. They are all banded as part of the study.
Do you know if they usually return to the same area for nesting? We have a large park across the street and a pair nested in a Willow last spring and successfully raised one of the two chicks. It was extremely difficult to get photos as the willow fronds would hang down close and you then had to shoot up at an extreme angle. I'd be thrilled if they returned this spring. Cindy
My folks have a large tree in their yard that hosted a pair of ravens for a couple of years. The third year a pair of great horned owls got to the nest before the ravens and fought them off. The two following years red tailed hawks occupied the nest. I think there is a good chance that the hawks will return.
Thanks for taking the time to comment. I enjoyed a recent visit to your albums after seeing some of your Hubble photos on the site. I'm affraid I also passed your Best Wildlife Photos of 2011 album on to my father. I'm sure your little piece of Fotki will be going viral here in a few days. lol I look forward to returning soon to view more. All of the Raptor photos were taken at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum Free Flight Raptor Exhibit. Here's a link to an album that explains how that works.http://public.fotki.com/cpeterson/free-flight-raptor-/ Cheers Christopher
Harris's Hawk. Neat hawks. They hunt in family groups. About the size of a red tail. Maybe a little smaller. Wikipedia has a decent article. One of our more common urban hawks.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris
Great little owl! What is this, a Boreal? There's an owl irruption this year and a friend of mine got some wonderful Great Gray photos a few hours from here. Cindy
Western Screech Owl (Megascops kennicottii). From the sound of things yesterday morning our local female Great Horned Owl found a suitor. I have not been able to catch them in the daylight though. There's a big sycamore tree outside our bedroom window. She likes to stop by from time to time and hunt the critters hanging out by the trash cans. lol I caught a glympse of her last december in the shopping center parking lot down the road at about 4am. Good hunting. Looking forward to the photos.
Please wait...
