Urban Raptors - Lunch in the city!

11/14/2007 01:55:48 PM · #1

My receptionist comes into my office and says there is a huge bird on a car in the parking lot of our office. I grab my camera and this is what I see! These are taken with my crappy work lens(28-105 POS) so they are not the greatest but not bad. It is awesome to see the eagle population recover so much that they are hanging out in Scottsdale Arizona and the Air park of all places. Thanks for looking!

ETA: I have since been corrected as the shots are of Harris Hawks.

There were 3 total and lunch is a quail.

(Must carry 80-200 all the time)

Message edited by author 2007-11-16 22:16:07.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

11/14/2007 02:03:31 PM · #2

The "lunch in the tree" ones came out great!

I have some pictures of Bald eagles from up in Washington, but I haven't seen any Golden eagles, at least where I could photograph them. I did get a couple of good shots of a Red-Tailed hawk last week -- photo-ops like this is one reason I got a camera with a built-in 400mm lens ... :-)

LoudDog

Canon EOS-350D Rebel XT

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

11/14/2007 02:08:30 PM · #3

Great catch! The owner of the truck is not going to be happy!

We have a couple bald eagles we've seen flying around our house the last few weeks, haven't had a camera around yet though.

11/14/2007 02:17:23 PM · #4

Originally posted by LoudDog:

The owner of the truck is not going to be happy!

No kidding! LOL

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

11/14/2007 04:21:02 PM · #5

bump Cuz it's cool

PHOTOKID

11/14/2007 04:33:03 PM · #6

These are really great, Good to see eagles back and about. Cant wait until they are common to see again.

trevytrev

Canon EOS-5D

11/14/2007 04:38:10 PM · #7

cool pics, you have some really nice ones there. I think it's great he eating his lunch on someones car, lol. I actually saw a Bald Eagle while hunting in northern Missouri this weekend, seens a bit early for them in missouri but it is up north, unfortuatly I did not have my camera on me. i'll catch em when then make their way down to St Louis and the Mississippi this winter. well done on your shots!

tjbel05

Nikon Z9

Nikon NIKKOR Z 70-200mm f/2.8 VR S

11/14/2007 05:30:17 PM · #8

Wow...Those are GREAT!

rossbilly

Nikon D200

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D

11/14/2007 05:41:13 PM · #9

good work erick!

(umm - sounds like your receptionist deserves a thanks/card/hug/something!)

On my way home today & saw a (redtailed?) hawk landing just a few feet off the road... thought I was gonna cause a wreck, til I remembered the camera was @ home today!

Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L USM

11/14/2007 06:19:04 PM · #10

Thanks everyone. I just hope they stick around so I can get some more shots of them.

And funny you should say that Billy, it was her birthday today so she got more than just a hug she got a cake too. :-P

trevytrev

Canon EOS-5D

11/14/2007 06:20:42 PM · #11

Well this looks like a good thread to post this Redtail that I managed to get a picture of this weekend. I had to clone out some twigs and an oof powerline that crossed her wing. I'm assuming it's a she since she was rather large. She didn't let me take many photos as I got near and this is the only on that turned out with out a lot of twigs in the way.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

11/15/2007 04:22:59 AM · #12

Last week I got to go on a school field trip to the Los Vaqueros Watershed in the hills east of Mount Diablo. As we were walking down the path to the next station, I saw these two hawks circling around each other over the next hill. A couple of minutes later I looked up to find them "posing" directly above me. Now, I'm color-blind, and even I can tell what kind of hawks these are ... :-)

The hawk pictures are all cropped and scaled down 33-50%. I used noise reduction because I was at ISO 400, which did give me a fast enough shutter speed to help compensate for my not-so-great panning skills.

Now, let's see some more Eagles before the thread gets taken over by the minor raptors!

pamelasue

Canon EOS-5D Mark II

Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di for Canon

11/15/2007 08:20:28 AM · #13

Wow, those are awesome ... wish something cool like that would present itself to me once in a while!!

aliqui

Nikon D300s

Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II

11/16/2007 05:50:58 AM · #14

Those are actually Harris Hawks, not Golden Eagles.

My dad's Harris Hawk.

A photo my dad took of Morley Nelson and one of his Golden Eagles. ("Arguably the most successful of the early North American Falconers and Raptor conservationists.")

Your photos are still pretty amazing. Something I definately wish I had seen in person, but your photos are the next best thing. =)

Message edited by author 2007-11-16 05:57:13.

vtruan

Nikon D5100

Tamron AF 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical for Nikon

11/16/2007 07:19:17 AM · #15

A Golden Eagle is about 2.5 times larger than the Harris' Hawks you shot.

FYI, Harris' Hawks hunt in groups, kind of like wolves of the southwestern desert sky. They have been in the saguaros around Scotsdale out to Camp Verde for many years, but are adapting to city life. Nice shots.

11/16/2007 09:59:42 PM · #16

Originally posted by vtruan:

A Golden Eagle is about 2.5 times larger than the Harris' Hawks you shot.

FYI, Harris' Hawks hunt in groups, kind of like wolves of the southwestern desert sky. They have been in the saguaros around Scottsdale out to Camp Verde for many years, but are adapting to city life. Nice shots.

Funny you should all tell me this, a friend just called me and said that they are Red tail hawks...LOL what do I know. Maybe the SC could change the name of the thread. HAHAHA

Thanks aliqui and vtruan it was too cool to watch especially when the one Hawk was on the truck plucking the quail (I am pretty sure the lunch was a quail as there are many in the area!

I love DPC! You know this place so the funnest and a billion times smarter than WIKI! :-D

Message edited by author 2007-11-16 22:00:21.

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

11/16/2007 10:08:13 PM · #17

Originally posted by thegrandwazoo:

Maybe the SC could change the name of the thread. HAHAHA

I could change the thread title to something like Urban Raptors - Lunch in the City if you like ... especially if you don't mind other people posting photos to it.

11/16/2007 10:09:01 PM · #18

Originally posted by GeneralE:

Originally posted by thegrandwazoo:
Maybe the SC could change the name of the thread. HAHAHA

I could change the thread title to something like Urban Raptors - Lunch in the City if you like ... especially if you don't mind other people posting photos to it.

Please! :-D

Canon 12x IS USM (S3 IS built-in Lens) -- 36-432mm (35mm EQ)

11/16/2007 10:13:32 PM · #19

Not too much doubt about what these are ... ;-)

sulamk

Canon EOS-60D

Sigma 70-200 /2.8 APO EX DG Macro HSM II

11/16/2007 10:46:53 PM · #20

These verreaux or black eagles have nested in this urban spot at Walter Sisulu botanical Gardens for many years and they are now being threatned by development
//www.blackeagles.co.za/development.htm
This is a pic taken on the 1st august 2007 of the mother and baby.

sorry about the quality but I took it with equivalent of 1200mm on the olympus and then had to crop as well to get this close

Message edited by author 2007-11-16 22:48:21.