fly over peregrine

It is always good have to your camera in the car. I was going across the Hudson on the tappanzee bridge when this guy flew by. I opened up sun roof and got shots while my camera was on auto. I could atleast put a check down next to peregrine! peregrines are very common on the Hudson. They nest on many of the bridges and cliffs.

Belted Kingfisher

I was down at croton poitn park the other day. I took a walk down to the beach. There was a good amount of eagles fishing down on the river. We were watching two fight for a fish. Out of the corner of my eye, i saw a smaller bird start zooming towards me. I thought it was a falcon it was going so fast. It turned out to be a belted Kingfisher. It never got too close, but good enough for a picture. It would have been cool to see his crown up. Hopefully in the summer time there will be more, and i will get better uppurtunites for a shot!

Long eared owl

Last weekend i had the perfect opportunity to get a good shot of a long eared owl. But ofcourse i messed it up. My friend James vellozzi found a great roost site. We pulled up and there was one sitting on the outside of the conifer. It was perfect. I didnt think to use manual focus and looking back now, i know i should have. You can still identify the bird though.. thats always good haha

Vulture vrs. rough leg

Dark morph rough legs and turkey vultures can easily be confused. They are black with white parts of the wings. I got a picture of a dark morph rough leg, and a vulture to show a comparison. I took these on the same day.
Below is a Dark morph rough legged hawk



Below is a Turkey vulture

The mighty falcon

I found a merlin along with the kestrels and other winterign raptors. We pulled u pretty close to this guy. I shot from the sunroof, which is the best way to get good shots. Hopefully this fall i will get even better shots, of this species. At fire island hawk watch i have seen over 300 merlins fly by in a single day. The best part is they are all eye level. In spring time i will post pictures of my favorite bird the peregrine falcon. They nest twenty minutes from my house!

Rough Legged Hawks

I have a lot of pictures of these hawks as they are everywhere. This post is a a bunch of light morph rough legs. I will make another post with dark morphs. There is also a red tail, which i think is in focus and sharp. For some reason i cant get the rough legs in focus! Hope you like the pictures!

Below is a redtail, sorry if it is a little small :(

Kestrels on the Highway

Going on a major highway i saw a kestrel perched on the wires. There most common place to see a kestrel. Since it was on a major Highway it was more comfortable as we pulled up to it. I got to take some perched pictures and some cool pictures of it jumping off the wires. They are the prettiest birds, but definitely one of the hardest to get great pictures of.

Barn Owl!!!!

Sunday me and my birder friends came upon a Barn Owl. We walked into a Barn, and a Barn owl flew out!! Me and Steve Sachs started blasting our cameras. Of course the bird never looked at me once. But at least it is cool to see the colors on their back. We have been getting very lucky this winter. Our other bird friend James Vellozzi, who is also a great photographer has a knack for finding birds. Well here are the pictures i got. Steve Sachs kindly sent me a photo of the barn owl he got, he was lucky enough to get its face. Therefore the picture i post with the barn owls face is his. View his website here.


Below is a picture taken by Steve Sachs

Eagle on the hudson

Located right on the Hudson River, its not hard to find Bald eagles. My friend located a Golden eagle at one of our favorite birding locations yesterday!! Here are some pictures of a bald eagle coming right over my head! I was birding with Steve Sachs today. He is a very experienced and well known photographer. He is my mentor and consider him one of the best photographers. Check out his work at here
click on pictures and make larger.

RoadSide Redtail

Driving along a road, my buddy caught this bird out of the corner of his eye. It was beautifully lit up with the sun shining on him. I went through the sun roof and shot this bird for 15 minutes. The bird did not mind us at all, and kept munching away at its prey. These pictures may be a little graphic!

More Short Ears

At around 3:00 pm everyday the short ears will come up and start hunting. They roost all day in the ditches and tall grasses. At times twenty short ears will be flying around you. They make really funny sounds like little dogs. They play around with eachother, and lock talons. They are really fun to watch. They fly really weird, people say they fly like moths. When you see them on the ground they look tiny but their wings are huge when the fly. Heres some more pics!!

Wintering Owls

In the winter Short eared owls and Rough legged hawks make their way south and winter in the hudson valley. If you find a big farm you will find the raptors. You may have seen these pictures on owlbox.blogspot.com but i thought i should add them here.