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Posts Tagged ‘soaring’

Fanned tail or not?

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on February 1, 2013| 11 Comments »

Why do some hawks fan their tails out when they are soaring and others don’t?

On an overcast day earlier this week, I was watching two hawks soaring through the air together, when I happened to notice that one of them kept his tail fanned out all of the time. His tail was so noticeably striped that I am pretty sure that he is a Red-Shouldered Hawk (Buteo lineatus).  The other hawk, however, never fanned out his tail. Looking at the wings of the two hawks, I think they are probably the same kind, although one of them looks to have a somewhat longer body.

So I am left wondering why, under the same  conditions, they each chose to us their tails differently.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Soar like a hawk

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , on January 25, 2013| 3 Comments »

This week I have been posting a lot of photos of soaring birds that I photographed last weekend. This last batch, which includes some of my favorites, features a young hawk soaring in a number of different positions. I was fortunate that he flew almost directly overhead and the light was reasonably good.

The strength and beauty of a bird like this is hard to capture in photos, but it was really impressive to watch him effortlessly soaring on the winds.

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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I want to soar like a vulture

Posted in Birds, Humor, Nature, Photography, wildlife, Winter, tagged , , , , , , on January 23, 2013| 6 Comments »

The Black Vulture (Coragyps atratus) needs to improve its public image and what could be better in these times of economic difficulty than emphasizing its energy efficiency?  The Cornell Lab of Ornithology states that the Black Vulture “soars on thermals to gain altitude and to cover large distances with little energy expenditure.”

This past weekend we had warm weather and a breeze, which made it perfect for soaring. Normally I see Black Vultures very high in the sky and in groups, but this time I spotted a solitary vulture soaring at a a lower altitude, which permitted me to get some decent photos. The Cornell Lab notes that Black Vultures have a less well-developed sense of smell than Turkey Vultures and rely more on sight than smell to find carrion, which may be why they soar at greater heights than Turkey Vultures.

I propose that the Black Vulture become the new symbol for energy-saving practices. What do you think?

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© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved

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Good day for vultures

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , , on December 6, 2012| 3 Comments »

Monday was a good day for vultures. It was warm and sunny and there must have been lots of thermal updrafts on which to soar. For a short while, a mixed group of turkey vultures and black vultures circles over my head and I couldn’t help but admire again their impressive wingspans. Remembering  the response of my fellow photographer and blogger Lyle Krahn to a previous posting I did on vultures, I made sure that I moved around from time to time. He commented, “If I saw that many vultures overhead, I’d be checking my pulse!”

The lighting was pretty interesting that day, for it illuminated one wing more than another, giving the birds an asymmetrical look. I decided to post a similar shot of each of the two types of vultures so that you can see some of the differences between the two.

Turkey vulture

Turkey vulture

Black vulture

Black vulture

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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Soaring Black Vulture

Posted in Birds, Nature, Photography, wildlife, tagged , , , , , , on November 16, 2012| 5 Comments »

As the cool morning air was warmed by the sun last Monday, I caught sight of a group of seven large birds soaring together through the air. I could tell that they were different from the turkey vultures that I had previously photographed, but I wasn’t sure what they were. A friendly birder identified them for me as Black Vultures (Coragyps atratus).

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology website, one of my favorite places to go to learn more about birds, notes that the Black Vulture have a less developed sense of smell than Turkey Vultures, and have to rely on their sight, which is why they may soar at greater heights than the Turkey Vultures. More social than the Turkey Vultures, Black Vultures often travel in flocks and may share a common roost before they go off to forage. (I saw a whole group of them in a single tree earlier in the morning that I took these shots).

I am still in awe of these large birds with impressive wing spans. At the marshland park where I do a lot of my photography, there are a number of species of hawks, and I hope to be able to get some photos of them eventually.

© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.

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