Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Animal Wednesday - Dinosaur


I am of the "Steven Jay Gould" persuasion of evolution;  he postulated that Dinosaurs evolved to birds and I had a terrific encounter today with a Red Tailed Dino. 

I was on my morning walk and went into a neighborhood that I rarely venture into.  There's a house there for sale (way too expensive I think) and I wanted to peep into the windows to see if it was paved with gold inside (no one lives there and it wasn't).  Anyway, as I was nosily heading around back to peep into the walk out basement, I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye...turned around and saw this awesome Red-Tailed hawk having it's breakfast.  I was 20 feet away, then 15, then 10...and I only had my iphone so I snapped away as quickly as I could.  




He or she was just magnificent looking - I've never been that close to a hawk before and it was wonderful to really see that red tail.


 And look at that beak - it's so effective looking.



I swear he actually posed for this picture.  I stopped walking closer at this point, as I realized that one good flap of those wings and it could be my nose for breakfast.   He appeared completely unconcerned with my approach but eventually flew off....



I managed to catch him in flight - look at that wingspan!!



He perched on the deck of the empty house and just sat there looking at me, a bit ruffly in the front, but no time for grooming after breakfast.


It was a fantastic way to start the day - I was late for work but didn't care at all.  It was worth it.  Makes me look forward to my morning walk - I wonder what I'll see tomorrow. 

Happy Animal Wednesday!!!

11 comments:

Lori ann said...

what a thrill mim! well done on the iphone pics. :)

Lisa at Greenbow said...

WOW to get so close to a RTHA. You are lucky. It must have been very hungry to let you get so close. Or maybe it is a 'citified' bird. Used to those noisy humans. What ever it is a great sighting. HAW.

Teri said...

Wow, what a cool experience!! Never realized the tail was so red!

HAW

Lynn Cohen said...

How exciting for you to see this majestic bird up so close and personal. Glad he did NOT get your nose! Loved reading this as if following your footsteps just a tad behind you hiding in fear of the big bad bird. HAW!!!!

kj said...

What a thrill indeed. I am surprised he/she was so calm and patient. I would have been late for work too, Mim. Heck, even the zinnias are making me late for work :-)

Love for sure,
kj

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

Wow.. you are having some interesting Animal adventures lately. This really was a coo. Now if only my monitor wasnt blue colored I could see the color of your Hawk. Maybe later or tomorrow as it comes and goes. HAW

Robin said...

OMG! Now this is MY KIND of AW Post! What a Beauty! What a THRILL!!!! Fabulous photos!!!!! Seeing this most regal bird was so worth being late to work -or late to anything!!!

MIM!!!! You have outdone yourself!

HAW!!!!!!! (Do you think I liked this?)

Love,

♥ Robin ♥

marianne said...

OMG Isn't this just a wonderful gift of mother Nature to start your day like this!!!!
I would have been thrilled as well.
How wonderful he stayed to be admired :)
What a gift!
♥M

PAK ART said...

Who knew a red tailed hawk actually had such a red tail? I didn't! I've never seen one, lucky you! I'm trying to get back to blogging - I've missed you all.

yoborobo said...

Nice pics, Mim! I love hawks, and we get a lot of them here. Sometimes I surprise them in the morning when I go out on my deck. I think they are shopping for the little birds that come to our feeder. Nature always amazes, doesn't it? :) xox

Amanda Summer said...

what a gorgeous creature. i get the chills whenever i am able to get that near a raptor. glorious shot of him taking flight and that red tail.