Red Tail Hawks In NY Can Be A Pain

[Ed Cordes]

We live in Upstate NY just North of the PA border in Corning. There are a lot of Red Tail Hawks here. They love to sit in trees hunting. Often they are within easy lens range of very busy roads with hundreds of cars and very loud semi-trucks going by. They never seem to mind the volume of traffic or the noise. HOWEVER, just try to stop, or even slow down and they are flying off in a heart beat!

Sometimes they play with you. They watch you out of the corner of their eyes as you slow down. They tease you as you watch them for a minute or so to ensure your car/blind is OK with them only to fly away as soon as you roll the window down and aim your lens. It's almost like they can see into your car and watch you lift your camera. Then they fly away just out of range of your 500 mm 2X TC combo and laugh at you!! Yup, sometimes I can actually hear them laugh - or at least I think I can!

Red Tail Hawks can be evil creatures who torment the local nature photographers. It is apparently their job to find the best light with the best perches and sit there looking majestic until a photographer comes by. Then they snicker and fly off, only to repeat the behavior at the first opportunity. And they do snicker - I swear I can hear it!!!

Of course, if a photographer stakes out a favorite perch and sets up a blind and sits waiting patiently drinking 2 or 3 thermos of coffee the hawks will decide that is the day they use the wonderful perches in the next county. This is when the Hawk Blackberry system works for them. They text each other that a photographer is walking into a blind so they decide that he/she needs some alone time to drink coffee and they all go on a day trip to annoy the photographers driving the roads 3-4 miles away.

So, like I said Red Tail Hawks can be a pain.;)

[Cliff Beittel]

While you are by road photographing, do you pay more attention to the many cars that roll by or to the lone car that stops to have a good look at you? The occupants of a car that stops are a potential threat, as is anyone who pays you undue attention; a car that rolls by isn't. Combine that with the propensity of some people to fire weapons at hawks and the hawks' behavior makes perfect sense.

[Mike Page]

Californian ones are a little tamer. I was lucky enough to get a few which have let me get out of the car and ignored me. I then some good shots as they fly off when they eventually get bored.

[Ed Cordes]

Nice image Mike. My original post was meant as tongue-in-cheek satire on the life of a bird photographer providing some comic relief to the reader. I hope it has been taken this way! ;)

[Beth Goffe]

Ed, come on down to Central Park. Our red-taileds are so accustomed to people, they'll eat their meal on a branch 10 feet above a busy walkway. Pale Male and Lola will give you a proper NYC welcome! :D

[Ed Cordes]

Ed, come on down to Central Park. Our red-taileds are so accustomed to people, they'll eat their meal on a branch 10 feet above a busy walkway. Pale Male and Lola will give you a proper NYC welcome! :D

Thanks for the heads up Beth. I am in continuing medical education late March and my wife is on her own during the day. Now I know what she can be doing. Any suggestions on location in the park? By the lake or in the interior?

[Gerald Kelberg]

Hi Ed,
This scenario seems only too familiar - but in my case it's with European Buzzards! They look magnificent, staking out a fence post or telegraph pole - then as soon as you wind down the window - they're gone! Seems they have been sharing notes on the Hawk Blackberry system!
Still we persevere and occasionally get lucky!
Thanks for the laugh!

Gerald

[Beth Goffe]

Ed, sorry, I lost track of this thread! There are a number of good places in the park. Different parts of the lake are good for water birds (March is typically too early for warblers, but you never know what you'll see). The Ramble is great for birds and there is a feeder area that attracts the usual but got pine siskins this year. The reservoir has gulls and waterbirds but you're pretty high above the surface of the water there. Other smaller locations which are hard to describe are great. Drop me a note when you're coming and I'll be happy to show you around or at least give you better directions. It's quite possible that you'll have a shot at some of the resident hawks.

[Craig Markham]

Thanks for the laugh, Ed -- I think most of us (bird photographers) have been there. But when they fly, I just recognize it as an effective means to evade irresponsible human behavior. It's not their responsibility to hang around to find out whether it's a photographer or an irresponsible gunslinger. Makes me appreciate it more when I get lucky and capture a good image.