Saturday, September 12, 2009

No One Can Resist the Red-Tailed Hawk

Red-Tailed Hawk on Post in Toronto's High Park, Toronto photographer Robert Rafton
Even though we've already shown images of Red-Tails not just once, but, er, twice, they're birds of prey, aren't they, which makes them really cool. Raptors (the fancy name for birds of prey) aren't as rare as you might think in the city, but Red-Tails are truly all over the place. Right off the top of my head I can think of at least a dozen spots where they're found regularly.

This particular hawk was in High Park and she spent a good minute or so posing for me. I'd guess this is a female because it was pretty large and female Red-Tails are bigger than the males. Also note that in the sun (this was shade) the Red-Tails often have a much more brilliant reddish colour.