Category:

Flight

Ode to a Red-tailed Hawk: Electrifying, grace and power wrapped in feathers

by Anders Gyllenhaal September 22, 2020

Every bird in flight is beautiful in its own way. But to me, there’s nothing as electrifying as the sight of a hawk spreading its powerful wings, soaring through the air, and once in a lucky while, passing close enough to show the edges of its feathers ripple in the wind.

The other day I spotted a Red-tailed Hawk perched on an irrigation rig in a field roughly a quarter-mile away. Suddenly it saw something move on the ground near me and was instantly in the air headed straight in our direction.

The hawk is made for hunting with eyes that work like binoculars, and so it can see small animals from 100 feet in the air. Its stare has the intensity of a spotlight, and its talons the strength of 200 pounds per inch.

All this was on display as this hawk came toward me and passed by 20 feet away. Then, in a move I didn’t expect, the magnificent raptor landed on a post not 10 feet from where I was standing.. It stretched its body, swiveled its head to survey its new surroundings and clenched its talons in the air.

Here’s a video of my hawk on its post:

The hawk was a juvenile, probably less than a year old, and apparently not experienced enough yet to fear humans.

All summer long, I’ve encountered juvenile birds unsure of how to behave, hesitant as they explored the world for the first time. There was a juvenile Eastern Bluebird who, like this hawk, hung around like we were best friends. Sometimes the young birds will still be in training with their parents. But eventually they have to head out on their own, and many have long migration trips ahead.

The hawk took off and circled around the nearby field, landing a few times without catching anything. Then he returned to a post again just a few feet away. He looked at me as if he’d never seen a person: interested and curious, with an intensity that lets you know what it’s like to be hunted by a Red-tailed Hawk.

Finally, he few off and circled the field until he disappeared into the woods. Here’s a gallery from this lucky encounter:

September 22, 2020 2 comments

Bird of the Week Birding Fledging Flight Photography

One magical night: A chance encounter with three baby owls

by Anders Gyllenhaal July 24, 2019

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

Trying out an owlish stare.

They were just weeks from leaving the nest for the last time, still learning to fly, but the trio of fledgling Eastern Screech Owls seemed ready to conquer the woods. Every night at dusk, they’d materialize around our campsite in the hills of Virginia and put on a show.

They swooped from tree to tree and practiced hunting for insects on the ground. One of them even walked across the road. Every once in a while they’d land on the same branch for a dose of sibling togetherness. They swiveled their heads as only owls can do, and let out sweet little calls that were nothing like the eventual screeches that give them their name.

Three young owls perching together.

Though still unsteady at times, these fledglings were growing up fast. Matt Larson, a researcher with the Owl Research Institute in Charlo, Montana, told us these owls should be leaving their parents behind within two weeks. So it was pure luck that we got to experience them as a family.

A fledgling (left) with one of the parents.

We heard about the owls on our first afternoon at Sherando Lake, in a remote corner of the mid-Atlantic southwest of Charlottesville. A neighboring camper saw us returning from a birding walk draped in binoculars and cameras.

“Have you seen the baby owls?’’ she asked.

“Baby owls!?’’ we said in unison, probably a little too loud.

July 24, 2019 2 comments

Birding Birds stories Flight Photography

The White Ibis — graceful and awkward at once — is a sight to see

by Anders Gyllenhaal February 19, 2019

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

When the White Ibis is soaring, it’s a magnificent and graceful bird, from its black-tipped wings to its long, curved, signature beak.

When an Ibis comes in for a landing, on the other hand, it turns into a gawky and awkward comic. It’s hard to tell its wings from its tail feathers.

Those are just two of the varied performances the Ibis delivers as it patrols the wetlands of the southeastern United States. While it mixes with the Egrets, Herons and Anhingas with which it shares the marshes, the Ibis stands out for its distinctive profile and personality.

All this helps make it a symbol of the marshes – and a bird to watch for both its beauty and its health as one of the coastal species under pressure. Particularly in Florida, where the Ibis is most plentiful, researchers say its numbers are nonetheless diminishing with the steady loss of habitat.

As the climate has changed, the Ibis has slowly expanded its reach. You can find them as far north as the Carolinas, depending on the season, as this map from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology shows.

They’re not hard to spot; that’s partly because of their long, pink beaks they use to sift for crustaceans, fish and insects, and partly because they’re rarely alone. They fly, feed – and just hang out – in groups of dozens of birds.

The other day, we encountered a full community of White Ibis gathered on the northern tip of Jekyll Island, Georgia, one of the sea islands where limits on development make room for wildlife. When we approached a small bridge over the marshes, a dozen Ibis were jostling for position on two narrow railings.

It made for a comedy routine you couldn’t stop watching. They all wanted to be on first one railing, then on the other. They jumped off and traded places, pointing their distinctive beaks every which way. Then they lined up in near perfect profile as if ready for inspection.

At times, the Ibis will be bashful and flee when they see you. Other times, they’ll put up with visitors and allow a good look. That day on Jekyll Island, they didn’t seem to mind our presence and stood posing for all the pictures we could take.

Here’s a gallery from that day, as well as encounters with Ibis all across the Southeast the past few years:

An Ibis on North Carolina's National Seashore balances precariously for a good view.

Coming in for a landing on Jekyll Island

Flying in formation above Carolina's Mattamuskeet Refuge.

Two Ibises tangle in the air on Jekyll's bridge.

A Glossy Ibis, a cousin to the White Ibis, forages in central Florida near Stick Marsh.

A juvenile, with its brown feathers, feeds on Hatteras Island, N.C.

A juvenile Ibis in flight

February 19, 2019 1 comment

Featured Flight

A pilgrimage to the Wright Brothers Memorial puts the power of human potential on display

by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal December 17, 2018

written by Beverly Mills Gyllenhaal

Today is the anniversary of the Wright brothers flight on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where we visited the newly renovated memorial a month ago. What a Flying Lesson it was.

We set off from our campground on a near-perfect fall morning toward Kitty Hawk where the Memorial has stood for over a century. A chunk of granite at top of Kill Devil Hill marks the marvelous December day that – after years of painstaking and obsessive efforts — Wilbur and Orville proved that people could fly.

The original photograph taken the day the Wright brothers proved they could fly.

Naturally birds were part of the brothers’ inspiration, and birds became their instructors as well. The brothers watched birds soaring directly into the wind and noticed that the air flowing over the curved surface of their wings created lift. Birds also change the shape of their wings to turn and maneuver, and the Wrights believed they could find a way to emulate this to block their plane’s tendency to roll in flight. So they warped, or twisted the shape of a portion of the wing. It’s the birds’ twist in their wings that helps them be more agile and aerodynamic.

The details of the quest to fly captivated Anders and me when we read David McCullough’s book “The Wright Brothers.” We’re basically obsessed with birds ourselves at this point, and so for me a trip to the place where humans took flight felt like a necessary pilgrimage.

December 17, 2018 3 comments

Birding research Flight Migration

Here’s a surprise: Birds watch out for each other, take turns on the hard jobs and use aerodynamics on their way South

by Anders Gyllenhaal November 16, 2018

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

The most visible sign of the fall migration has always come with a kind of riddle: Why do birds fly in those big V-shaped formations on their journey south?

Flying in formation

When researchers came up with a way to ride along for a portion of the trip, they learned there’s a lot more going on up there than they expected. The maneuvers turned out to be impressive displays of teamwork, aerodynamics and selflessness of the part of birds. Experts say we could learn a thing or two from how they travel.

An earlier Flight Lessons post looked at secrets emerging on flight flocking, in which thousands of birds move together like a cloud. Several readers asked what’s going on with another form of joint flight: the V-formations that larger birds in particular, such as Canadian geese, all varieties of ducks, Ibises, storks and Pelicans, form as they fly.

A V-formation of Ibis pass over Myakka River State Park in Southwestern Florida.

The V shapes are a symbol of a migration that otherwise takes place mostly at night or out of our view. There’s something magical about them, says Bret Tobalske, director of one of the nation’s leading flight labs and associate professor at the University of Montana.

“People from time immemorial have been fascinated by the formations,” he said. “We have looked up for a long time and been just fascinated by how they do this.”

November 16, 2018 0 comment

Birding research Flight Photography

Unraveling one of nature’s mysteries. How do flocks fly like that?

by Anders Gyllenhaal November 9, 2018

written by Anders Gyllenhaal

It’s one of the great birding mysteries on display each fall with the migration: How on Earth do huge flocks of birds come together and fly in formation, zigging and zagging in some of nature’s best choreography, making split-second pirouettes at speeds of up to 40 miles an hour?

A swarm of Black Skimmers on North Carolina’s Pea Island Preserve.

For centuries people could do little more than guess at the mechanics. Do birds possess a kind of telepathy about when to turn? Is there a single leader that the birds all watch as an orchestra does its conductor?

Today, with the use of 3D photography, digital reconstruction and several ground-breaking research projects, the secrets are finally coming out. And with them are possible lessons that could be used in everything from programming drones to training people new styles of leadership.

We spent several weeks this fall on North Carolina’s Outer Banks, watching big flocks of Black Skimmers zoom about in unison, hundreds of Terns zip along the shoreline in clusters, and thousands of ducks fly in V-formations on their way south. For all the wonder of the fall and spring migrations, nothing sweeps you away like the sudden eruption of a mass flock flight.

November 9, 2018 0 comment