The Harrier Hawk (Gymnogene)

The bird nest raider has arrived to scrutinize the area.

This is a big raptor bird, and it has a wide wingspan. Its wingspan was designed to lift heavy prey and its power can even enable it to lift small dogs.

At first, a new month has also arrived, and we hope that it will be kind to everyone. I also hope that you have powered up on the 1st day of the new month, as it is the right thing to do. Now let's talk about the hawk that is the biggest in the hawk species. By now some of you know that the hawk has double jointed knees that enable it to climb trees. I have seen it snatching young squirrels, and people cover their pet rabbit cages with strong bird wire to keep the hawk away. It's often a sad sight to see the hawk with a young bird in its talons, and I have posted it with its prey a few times before.

This below was how it landed on the peak of a roof across the road from our house.

So, after it landed, look how it bowed in its greeting to me.

Swinging its head to see if I was going to chase it away again.

It kept on looking around, and I knew that it was watching for the pied crows, as the crows often attack it, but on this day, the crows were somewhere else at a meeting.

So, no crows, and I thought that it would continue to pose for me.

I was on the zoom, and before I could retract it, the hawk suddenly took off. I would have had a chance to get the full picture if it ruffled its feathers first, as then I would have known that it was about to take off, but not on this day, as it simply flew away. But there was nothing that I could do about it.

What I have learned in nature is that a sitting bird ruffles its feathers to get them in order for flight and after the fluffing it will take off. So, what I do is that during the fluffing procedure, I would retract the zoom, and switch the camera over to the "Sports" setting. In this setting the camera captures 3 photos in quick succession instead of only one photo with one click. So it shows 3 photos of a bird's taking off in flight. But like I said, one has to retract the zoom, or else it will not capture the bird's taking off in one full picture.
But not to worry, as I will get him in a perfect take off the next time that it lands on the roof.
Such is life.

I hope that you enjoyed the story and the pictures.

Photos by Zac Smith-All Rights Reserved.

Camera: Canon PowershotSX70HS Bridge camera.

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