Immature Sharp-Shinned HawkJan. 3, 2016
 



Winter is the time of year for encountering immature hawks, born the preceding summer. Today's encounter was with a female sharp-shinned hawk (from the basis of size, in which a female is larger than a male, which is the nature of hawk size or sexism).

Most young hawks don't survive their first year, and I fear the present one may be among the unlucky. There is something about her expression that doesn't cause confidence.


 
Sharp-shinned hawk face
 

The following is a blurry flight photo of her, but I like it for showing the tail span.
 
Sharp-shinned hawk flight
 

The immature sharp-shinned hawk settled down after frightening the small birds. However, those birds didn't remained frightened for long. A few actually perched close to her.
 
Sharp-shinned hawk fluffed
 
  The sharpy settled at this point and remained in this position for nearly an hour.
 
Sharp-shinned hawk, perching
 
  Of course I wish the local birds safety, especially since they come to my feeders, but I can't help but feel sorry for this particular female sharpy.

Photo note: I used a Pentax D3, with the SMC-D 60-250mm lens for photos 2 and 3 and the Sigma 150-500mm for photos 1 and 4.




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