BOPIMBY (birds of prey in my backyard)

[Johnny OrganDonor]

Just one more, if no one minds.  Both parents showed up just after sunset.  They did a little feeding and then flew from tree to tree as the little ones flapped and screeched - maybe they were giving flying demonstrations.  Then both of them hung out together on top of the same tree for a while.  Sorry for the poor quality, it was pretty dark so I had do do some enhancements to bring out the detail.

mom and pop

[TiNi]

these are some very interesting pictures 

i especially like "flaps up" 

they are definitely getting ready to leave the nest...

[dolci]

thanks for continuing to post the shots - they are just gorgeous.

[Johnny OrganDonor]

Mama hawk fed the young ones just at sunrise and flew to a nearby tree and perched for about an hour or so.

A good opportunity for mom to preen and pamper herself


She had a visitor too


Had to yell at the kids a few times


Heading back to work

[Kopfjäger]

She had a visitor too

She's thinking. "I'll bet that would taste good, if I was only quick enough". 

[Johnny OrganDonor]

Two of the young hawks took to the air yesterday.  I was at work but my wife got to see the first one take off.  By the time I got home, it was sitting at the top of a tree in our front yard meeting the neighbors.




I grabbed my camera and as I waited to get shot of the next one to fly, it took a shot of it's own (I'm just posting this if anyone was wondering how they.....)




After a few false starts, it finally made the short flight to a nearby tree - this is the take off for it's first flight.

[mitt]

Had some smaller birds of prey and babies in my parents yard on the 5th:

Tree Swallows

Mom and Dad (brilliant blue backs)



One baby (they just jumped/fell out of next):

[mitt]

2 more babies:



Stretching his wings:



The parents and another set of adults were feeding the 5 of them with bugs constantly.  By the end of the day, they were flying around pretty well - amazing.

mitt 

[Kopfjäger]

I grabbed my camera and as I waited to get shot of the next one to fly, it took a shot of it's own (I'm just posting this if anyone was wondering how they.....)

In Falconry thats called a "slice". 

Slice The throwing of a mute as what Accipiters, hawks, and eagles do. Falcons mute straight down while the other raptors fling their fecal matter out with a bit of velocity.

[Rev. Millertime]

I can do the same thing after a good night of drinking Guinness! 

[Jarvicious]

^^^^^I was gonna say the same thing, only substituting whiskey.