Red-tailed Hawk & Crested Caracara Interaction - Bolivar Peninsula (TX) - Nov. 2019

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I took no photos yesterday. It was totally overcast with light rain all day long. The sun reappeared today but the bird action was slow in the early morning. The tide was low at the North Jetty but the wind direction was wrong. The rumps of birds were pointed toward the jetty during takeoffs and landings. So, I decided to check for raptors, sparrows and other birds along a number of unpaved short roads that run from coastal State Highway 87 to deadends at the Intracoastal Waterway. While driving east on 87 I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk on one the 3 posts that (before some tropical storm or hurricane) had supported a small billboard. On the middle post was a Crested Caracara. I quickly pulled to the side of the highway and took photos of both birds.

Immature Red-tailed Hawk with partially consumed rodent
All photos in this series were taken with an Olympus E-M1X camera with 300mm f/4 lens and 1.4x teleconverter.
Settings for all shots were 1/2000 sec at f/7.1, ISO 500

Crested Caracara perched on an adjacent post.

But I realized I was on the wrong side of the birds to capture the action that I assumed would take place shortly. I managed to perform a U turn and pull off the highway on the other side of the birds before the action began.

The hawk is aware of the approaching caracara.

The feet of the putative thief are visible at the top of the image.

I did not have time to remove the teleconverter. That would have reduced image size and a coordinated photographer could have gotten both birds in the frame. Note that the rodent is still in the grasp of the hawk.

The hawk dropped or released the rodent. The body and tail of the rodent are visible in front of the hawk’s tail and left wing.

Both birds and rodent in the frame!

The last shot that was in focus. The rodent is flying away too.

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David Sparks

I retired in 2005 after 40 years of research and teaching at the University of Alabama in Birmingham (24 years), the University of Pennsylvania (8 years) and the Baylor College of Medicine (8 years). Photography is my retirement hobby.

Nature photography, especially bird photography, combines a number of things that I really enjoy: bird-watching, being outdoors, photography, travel, messing about with computers, and learning new skills and concepts.  I now spend much of my time engaged in these activities.

David Sibley in the preface to The Sibley Guide to Birds wrote "Birds are beautiful, in spectacular as well as subtle ways; their colors, shapes, actions, and sounds are among the most aesthetically pleasing in nature."  My goal is to acquire images that capture the beauty and uniqueness of selected species as well as images that highlight the engaging behaviors the birds exhibit.