You must look either very sexy or very yummy to him =3

Can't I be both? :3

Actually I think I'd startled him more than anything.

you can be both, haha ;D

You take such amazing pictures, even when you're not expecting to take any!

Seriously -- can't someone out there pay you for this photo? It belongs in a bird encyclopedia or something.

Thanks! If there's someone out there who wants to pay me to wander around and snap pictures of critters, I'd be more than happy to take them up on it. :3

Well, most likely they're not going to stumble upon your work -- you have to look for *them* :)

wow, great shot!

Getting this shot made my whole day.

Now *that* is a great shot!

Well, thanks! I was pretty pleased with it m'self. :3

<3

Red-tailed hawks were the first animals I got close to (due to Animorphs!). And thus, my path to furrydom began.

Great and lucky shot! :) Good job!

Thanks! It's funny, the different ways we all sort of segue into being furries (I remember being sweet on Ranger Rick when I was a kid).

Great shot, but that's not a redtail. It's a northern harrier if I'm not mistaken. Definatly not a redtail though. Face shape says harrier and it lacks the red tail feathers.

Huh... you're most likely correct (I certainly don't claim to be a bird expert by any means). Having looked up some harrier pix, I'd say it's a pretty close match for my bird here. My original 'diagnosis' of it being a red-tail was based largely on hunting around the net for corresponding images. I've gone back over several of those, and it appears that there are quite a few harrier images that are mislabeled as red-tails. In any case, I'm convinced enough to go back and correct the caption.

Lol I do a lot of birding. There is a lot of similar looking hawks, not to mention sub-species of some forms of hawk as well as various phases that can make it hard to tell, but each class if you will has some features which make it identifiable. If you look at profiles of hawks, harriers have a very unique facial structure, which is what made me go harrier for sure. I'm guessing northern because markings look most similar to that, but I'm more familiar with birds further east so I'm not 100% on their ranges.

I'm now convinced that what I've got here is a northern harrier. I've found some other harrier images that are pretty definitively a match. You're right, the facial features (particularly that bit of yellow over the beak) are a solid giveaway. They're actually quite common in my neck of the woods, though obviously I never knew quite what they were until now. :3

Glad I could help :)

Nicely captured!

AAARRRGGGHHH! Damn! That's the shot I wanted to get this fall. Mine was slightly out of focus but it looks like you absolutely nailed this one. What camera and settings were you using? Oh, and what a clear reminder that you should always have your camera ready!!!

I can't even tell you how much adrenaline I was cruising on when this guy popped up in front of me. I almost forgot that I had my camera, I was so surprised. Wish I could tell you exactly what the settings were, but it's been a while... best I can remember is that it was set on a fairly quick shutter speed, and I was using a 75/300mm lens. I use a Canon EOS Rebel.

Oh man, sweet camera! 300mm gives it just the range I'd love to have so often. *sigh* Heh, yah, but wait until I get my twelve hundred and fifty mm lens tuned! *grin* Mine's bigger than yours is! Nyah nya nya Pbbbllblblll! Damn, where's the raspberry emoticon when you need it. Here's the story and pics from my own encounter. Yep, close but no cigar. Would have been a hell of a shot. I'd love to have a lens and system that could properly track a subject like that but I've got to stick to manual with this setup, which is why I practice constantly with seagulls.

For some reason I have a heck of a time getting good shots of seagulls. :P

Yeah, he gave you an awesome pose right there... don't sweat it, my archives are littered with many, many not-quite-in-focus shots (or even worse, the ones that were perfectly in focus but framed so that half a wing is cut off).