A worldwide community photographing and learning about wildlife
Project Noah Nature School
Buteo jamaicensis
This large buteo hawk can be up to 65 cm (26 in) long with a wingspan of up to 145 cm (57 in). Males are smaller than the females. There are many color variations across its wide range. Adults have the red tail feathers, which gives them their name.
Red-tailed hawks are very adaptable and are found in many different habitat types across its range, including grasslands, eastern deciduous forests, to mountains.
Spotted on May 29, 2012
Submitted on Jun 6, 2012
10 Comments
Gorden, I'll have to try that next time I look up and see a bird circling.
I deliberately over-exposed 1 f-stop to brighten the bird up somewhat and to prevent the bird from becoming a silhouette. Then in when processing the photo, I brightened up the hawk somewhat, selectively increased saturation of the blue in the sky and darkened the sky, then added some fill and increased contrast and clarity.The key was the initial photo though as it provided the basis from which to work.
Thanks Gordon...it's really exploded since they expanded the range! Heather, I agree...it's magic!!
OK Gordon - how do you do your magic? The sky is blue, the bird is not a silhouette...great colors.???
Thanks everyone. Christy, I added a bunch of photos to your mission.
Wow!
Perfect! Well done Gordon :)
Great shot, Gordon! I'd love you to add this and your other raptor photos to the mission Raptors of North America: http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/8627...
great capture!
Cool shot!