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Antonio Quezon
04-01-2009, 05:57 PM
I'll be in Florida next week and the following and am looking for any Short-tailed Hawk locations that are worth checking out. We'll be driving down the Atlantic coast to Key West, up the Gulf Coast to Tampa and then across the state back to Orlando. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

Regards,
TonyQ

Judd Patterson
04-01-2009, 07:39 PM
I can mainly speak for the southeast portion of the state. Anhinga Trail at mid-morning or the late afternoon is ideal in fall and early spring, but the sightings start to thin out this time of year. You still might get lucky, so get to the trail in the morning and scan all the flying vultures and you might find either color morph of Short-tailed. Lately I have also seen them in the urban areas along the coast, including Matheson Hammock in Miami where I've heard of several morning sightings. You might also check out the Black Point Marina area several miles south of Matheson Hammock.

I can think of two primary problems with photographing this bird once you do get lucky enough to find one. First, they are usually quite dark and you'll want to either set a manual exposure beforehand or overexpose at least +2/3 based upon an evaluative meter reading. The second problem is that they are seldom seen perching and when they fly they like to quickly circle to heights that are not ideal for photography. Getting a really good photograph of this species is a big goal for me too, but I have only had a handful of opportunities (always in Everglades so far) where the birds were at a photographable distance. It's not impossible, but it will be a challenge! Good luck and please let us know if you find some good spots.

Antonio Quezon
04-03-2009, 03:41 PM
Thanks, Judd. We'll be leaving tomorrow for sunny Florida. I'll let you know if the Short-tailed Hawk expedition turns out successful, but I'm not holding out a great deal of hope.

Regards,
TonyQ

Alfred Forns
04-07-2009, 05:38 PM
Antonio they have been consistent at Anhinga as Judd mentions. They hang around with the soaring vultures !!