I first walked out on the boardwalk and saw the above red shoulder hawk sitting high up in a tree.
A few minutes later I caught him flying down closer to the boardwalk.
He was eyeing something on the ground.
He landed in the reeds and was looking for something.
Something caused him to fly back up into a tree close by. He sat there for a while.
Minutes later, he swooped down and grabbed something. I only caught him flying off with his catch in his claw. It looks like a crawfish. I didn’t realize there were crawfish in the lake there.
It was a quiet morning at Kapok Park. Not much going on so I watched the hawk for a while. I wonder if he’s a fairly young one that was born in the nest in the woods nearby. He seemed to get pretty close to people as they walked by. Lots of joggers and dogwalkers were out. He did not mind several photographers watching him hunt for his catch.
splendid captures! always a treat to get so close to these raptors!
Success!
I love these hawks which I saw in Central Florida also.
It’s an adult bird (immatures are brown and white), so it’s probably been around a few years.
I’ve never heard of them eating crayfish….cool shots!
Fantastic series of this amazing hawk and lucky you to have seen this cool behavior!
Wonderful!
yowza…these are fantastic shots of such a gorgeous bird…the coloring and markings are outstanding and you captured him at his finest!!
Wow, Dina! These are fantastic photos! Gorgeous! It seems like everybody and their brother are getting raptor photos. I’m a bit envious.