Red Tail
 

Saw this today, it must have got out of the nest early, sitting on top of some bushes. If I had a net on a five foot pole I could have got him.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1339980569.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1339980595.jpg

You would have got him for what?

Yeah like Mark said.....

You already "got him" in photography. What else is there?

Great photos BTW!

My Father had a Red Tail and a Peregrin Falcon. Beautiful birds. Saw a young one being trained at Gutenberg Castle the last time we were there.

for some, it's rhetorical, for those that didn't understand, it was a statement of how close I got to it. sorry to confuse you.

Falconry is on my to do list during retirement at the latest. It is an awesome sport IMHO and goes back a couple thousand years at the least.

G

They are beautiful birds. There's one in my backyard or lives in the hills back there. I like to think he keeps our rodent population down.

We have one (or some) that land on our power pole in front of the house. I always call out to them, "Get more gophers," but they don't seem to care. I like to watch when the ravens hassle them until the hawks start flying around aggressively and squawking. Then the ravens always lay low.

I have heard that a group of ravens can kill a hawk.

A group of Ravens will kill a young hawk,sometimes they are able to get an older more expierinced bird.
I got my falconry license almost twenty years ago. It had been a childhood dream,and when I moved up hereI finally did it.I flew redtails mostly,very rewarding.I got out of it because of the time commitment required. When my daughter gets to be about 10 I will introduce her to the art of Falconry.

LOL!!

how big was it? i know jacksquat about birds..except the ones i cook..that a fledgling?

Same thing happened to me at Bolsa Chica. I was walking around the pond and a red tail landed on the fence next to the trail. I approached very slowly and was able to get about five feet from it.

Obligatory smart azz comment:

I thought this thread was going to be about beer! Or maybe over exuberant bicycling!

or that war movie!!!

one time i was driving my work truck through Golden Gate Park. i came up to a RTH standing in the middle of the road guarding a fresh kill..IIRC, a pigeon.

i honked my horn to scare him away..(probably a federal offense :)) it looked at me and my truck..puffed up, spread his wings, and let out a LOUD hawk screek.. i put the truck in reverse..it won!! those things are enormous.

Same here...went out w/ a couple falconers, AWESOME to watch the birds work. PLUS...you can hunt about anywhere. We were down by Missin Bay in San Diego. They'd release the birds (Cooper's Hawks) and we'd drive thru the brush w/ golf clubs scaring rabbits out. Bird MAY have weighed 18 oz, but it put the hurt on 5 lb jackrabbits. Also, you can do catch and release if the rabbits aren't really torn up. Falcons are really where it's at tho:

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