I loved this hawk sitting on the sign of lake rules watching as if he was the one in charge of making sure they were followed. Or maybe he is the reason for those rules...swim at your own risk...no children under five...yep...I'd keep out too.
I wish you could have seen how huge he was. Really bigger than an infant...more like a toddler...
Wow, what a great capture! Like Hazel said the hawk on it's own is a great catch but the sign it is sitting on (and your comment) made the shot also fun to watch.
Great shot! Are you sure it's a hawk- it sure looks like a Golden Eagle to me with the beak and claws- but its true the feathers aren't exactly what I'd expect. No matter- hawk or eagle- it's a fav!
@vickisfotos I think it is a side benefit of photography for the curious at heart- you learn so much about the world around you! Good job on the "identity search"!
@olivetreeann I looked up the Golden Eagle and can see how you thought that was it. It really has a lot of the same features...except for white on the tail...well, at least that is what showed up on Google. I would most likely have gone with that except that there was the adult eagle in the park at the same time...
@vickisfotos We have Red Shouldered Hawks around here and my husband has always been interested in the raptors. One day we saw something sitting on a branch in the woods behind us and he was convinced it was an immature Red Shoulder- but after a careful search it turned out to be the Northern Goshawk. So, I totally believed you when you identified him as an immature Am. Eagle. I also showed the picture to my husband who (if he was here on 365 would have fav'd it) commented that it was a great shot!
@olivetreeann I Googled Red Shoulder Hawks and Northern Goshawks. The Red Shoulder is so gorgeous!!! I don't know if they have them around here. I can see how you figured the Goshawk was a juvenile, they are so similar and now that I realize that the immature ones are not in full color yet (lol), I would have thought the same as you. The lake is just about 1/4 mile from my house, so I have been trying to walk down there every day, even if it rains so I can take a look for them. Today I saw 4 hawks circling, but they were too far off to get a shot of them to identify them. I saw the park ranger and asked if the eagles are normally there. He said they stay each spring until the osprey show up...and yesterday I spotted a couple of osprey, so that explains why I have not seen them this last week. But he did tell me that the eagles just fly on over to the Columbia River, which is only 1/4 mile in the other direction from me, so I will take turns between lake and river to see what is there for me!
