Grumman E-2C Hawkeye
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Through the mist and frosty air : the mills of Kinderdijk on a cold February morning, Zuid Holland, The Netherlands
I spotted and photographed this bird in a local willow tree today down by our village lake and I have temporarily named this little guy Hawkeye, but I am unsure exactly what it is. The colouring is mostly accurate, but on the wing area, there was an out of focus leaf or twig much closer to the camera that has given it an apparent yellowish tint on the shoulder. It was very tricky to catch an uninterrupted view through all the twigs and branches. I have managed to narrow it down to either a Brown Goshawk, or maybe a Collared Sparrowhawk. I'm leaning towards the Collared Sparrowhawk for now. Apparently the plumage and colouring on these two birds is remarkably similar, but one is much bigger than the other. This seemed fairly small to my eye, For my fellow Aussie birders, it was maybe a similar size to a rosella - perhaps even slightly smaller. Very hard to tell. Any help with ID much appreciated! Either way, this is one for me to tick off my list of unseen birds as I haven't spotted either of them before.
(Now confirmed as a Collared Sparrowhawk - many thanks to all those who chipped in!)
Birds of prey have a number of adaptations that make their eyesight especially good. The first thing, that is obvious here, is that both eyes point forward giving them great binocular vision for judging distances. Prey species have eyes on the sides of their head giving them all-round vision but the compromise is they have poor binocular vision. Here's a face-on Woodcock, a prey species, showing the different eye positioning: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/49683418456/in/photolist Birds of prey also have tube-shaped eyes which increases the size of the image on the retina (a bit like having a bigger screen on the back of your camera). Birds of prey have about five times more receptors per square mm than humans giving fantastic resolution. This is like comparing a 5 megapixel camera with a 25 megapixel camera. The fovea is the part of the eye with the greatest concentration of receptors giving the greatest visual acuity. But birds of prey also have a second fovea in a "pit" which will give an even larger resolution image if they "switch" to using that fovea. Interestingly, Condors which feed by scavenging don't have the second fovea that most birds of prey have, as they don't need such great visual acuity. The Caracaras which feed by walking on the ground also lack this second fovea. And finally birds of prey have a ridge over the eye giving them that fierce look, but this is also critical in protecting their eyes. Look how vulnerable an Ostrich eye is in comparison: www.flickr.com/photos/timmelling/33908387402/in/photolist
This young male Sparrowhawk had just caught a male House Sparrow in my back garden a few days back. I already uploaded a sideways view but this face-on view was dramatically different, so I thought I'd upload it too.
Cooper's Hawk, Glendale, Missouri. I'd prefer a more natural perch for this guy, but I like the glowing orange eye and the background isn't bad...
Photo taken at the weekend of this amazing wild juvenile Goshawk just look at the intensity of those eyes. (Thanks for viewing my photos)
I ran across this Hawk just after finding the Great Horned Owl. I don't think it's a Red Tailed hawk, maybe a Red Shouldered. Any help?
My wildlife album: www.flickr.com/photos/gotfish_mb/sets/72157604955724732
Hawkeye flipped lens
Neopan
Lith Moersch SE 5
Paper Dalco Dalbroma (it is made in The Netherlands, Soestduinen and it is from between 1960-1975)
Whilst Q198 did their thing at Joliet Yard, an eastbound IAIS decided to pay a visit with a classic GEVO/SD38-2 pair up front. The right sources kept me up in the action without missing a beat. UD Tower, Joliet IL.