Red Tail Hawk bathing

[clivingston]

I really got lucky today! I came across a pair of mating Red Tail Hawks. They would circle around then land and swim in some open water. Then they would go up into the trees and sun themselves. Once all this playing(courtship) was finished they mated and then they both took off. Here are couple of shots of them in the water. I will post the others as soon as I finish processing them.Hope you enjoy.

[dancinec]

Excellent and fortunate captures Chris, the first shot is especially good.

[Stephen Stephen]

I've never see or heard of this behaviour Chris. Thanks for sharing.

[bromm]

Thats not something you see everyday, well done!! thanks for sharing these behaviour shots.:D

[plsurfer]

Sick shots, never seen that before

[joayne]

Well after seeing the mating series, I thought this took place after... well mating. Didn't realize that they bathed first. Guessing a few people could benefit from observing this...;)

[canonloader]

Great shots and interesting behaviour. Never heard of that either.

[Gary Fairhead]

Excellent captures of very cool behaviour Chris.That first image is special...great color in the water and a wonderful reflection. I did an edit on an already great photo for two reasons...the grey in the foreground is distracting me from this wonderful bird and reflection and the horizon appears to need a slight rotation to the left.I contemplated cloning the remaining grey strip with the gold water and/or cloning all the grey with gold water...options... I will of course remove it if you wish...

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a300/g2a/New%20Birds/reflect.jpg

[ZipDude66]

Truly amazing Chris! A day you will soon not forget.

Zip

[calicokat]

Great captures, I have never seen a Hawk do this myself :)

[kr88]

Nicely done Chris. That 1st shot is fantastic!!!! Love it. :)

[joe_elway]

For me, any sharp and well composed raptor shot is amazing. But something showing unique behavior is special. Truly well done!

[clivingston]

Thanks to all for the comments and thank you Gary for the couple of adjustments. Those really made a big difference ! It looks great as a 11x 14 print.

[Reyno]

Excellent captures Chris. The first is simply fantastic.

[iplayazi]

Love it Love it!

Thats so cool

Todd