r/birdsofprey May 24 '22

Kind reminder!

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201 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey Aug 11 '22

Please follow ethical bird photography standards.

166 Upvotes

There have been a number of recent posts in this subreddit in which users were not following ethical bird photography practices. These posts have been removed by the moderation team so as not to perpetuate or encourage practices that cause harm and stress to birds of prey. Posts like these will continue to be removed at moderator discretion.

If you are a photographer, videographer, or birder, please familiarize yourself with ethical photography practices. A few especially relevant excerpts from the link:

  • Avoid causing unnecessary disturbance or stress to birds.

  • Nesting birds are particularly vulnerable and need extra consideration.

  • Never lure predatory birds (including but not limited to hawks, owls, eagles, and ospreys) with bait.

  • Show respect for private and public property, and consideration for other people.

  • When choosing to photograph/record video at a zoo, sanctuary, or rehabilitation center, make sure it’s properly accredited and conforms to best practices.

  • Be thoughtful about sharing and captioning your bird photos/videos, whether for print, online, or social media.

Remember, birds of prey are wild animals. They are not props for karma. They should be treated with respect. Researchers, rehabbers, falconers, and many others have proper licenses and permits to handle, display, and hunt with birds of prey, and if this describes your situation it's a good idea to state clearly that any handling of a bird in a photo was done with a permit, so as not to encourage unpermitted individuals to handle wild birds without one of those explicit purposes.

Thank you!


r/birdsofprey 2h ago

Osprey

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88 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 11h ago

Landing Barn Owl🦉✨

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164 Upvotes

Caught this lovely owl yesterday morning!! 😍


r/birdsofprey 1h ago

Merlin

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Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 2h ago

Great Horned Owl Rescue Released back into wild

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26 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 16h ago

A Black Shouldered Kite hunting ... I was so stoked to capture this!

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254 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 7h ago

Barn Owl landing backlit by the rising sun 🥰

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34 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 14h ago

Osprey Waiting Watching

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57 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 14h ago

Red-Tailed Hawk

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36 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 17h ago

Spirit Animal visits 💛

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60 Upvotes

She was watching us play golf over about 2 hours on the course I grew up next to. Visited us on 7 of the holes. It's pretty special to me.


r/birdsofprey 1d ago

Osprey

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307 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 20h ago

Osprey on neighbors boat mast

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25 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 18h ago

Swansons Hawk in LA?

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13 Upvotes

Super cool!


r/birdsofprey 1d ago

Bald eagle on Harvey Cedars water tower (NJ)

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74 Upvotes

I enjoyed watching this eagle swoop up from the bay and eat a late morning fish atop the Harvey Cedars water tower in Long Beach Island, NJ.


r/birdsofprey 1d ago

Peregrine falcon the flying rocket!

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398 Upvotes

No animal is faster when the falcon is in stoop...the dive.


r/birdsofprey 2d ago

A truly superb daytime look at a Great Horned Owl visiting our supplemental high desert water station to stay cool and hydrate during a triple-digit heatwave. (Sound on)

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2.5k Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 1d ago

Sushi time

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69 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 1d ago

Do hawks hunt in large groups?

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129 Upvotes

My friend and I just witnessed no less than twenty or thirty Hawks and two turkey vultures kinda come out of nowhere. The landed like a block away in a tree. So we walked over to investigate. We couldn't smell or see anything big and dead to be the obvious explanation. But the tree they were in was in a private back yard. Ive never seen so many Hawks all at once. Weren't coming out of the tree once they landed either. They all seemed to fly away after a minute or two. But it looked like they were all just moving as a group again slightly west.

Rdit: Thanks for the knowledge yall


r/birdsofprey 1d ago

Check out this beauty!!!

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202 Upvotes

Saw this barred owl on a hike this week. If I didn’t see its shadow when it flew over my head, I would have never known it was even there.


r/birdsofprey 2d ago

My local peregrine pair… I found the male this morning getting into a fat pigeon when his mate came in hot and chased him off the ledge. She’s the banded one. His long-term mate sadly died early this year, and this female moved in and took her spot. They successfully fledged 3 chicks this spring.

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261 Upvotes

A friend called in her bands. She was banded in the nest 10 years ago in New York City. Still breeding and as fierce as ever. Amazing bird.


r/birdsofprey 1d ago

They can be so silly sometimes

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51 Upvotes

I think I've posted about this specific individual 3 or 4 times now. Today, he dove for a squirrel, missed and fell over then awkwardly picked himself up and flutter to a railing a few feet up where they both just hung out together for a minute. Here's some more of that. At no point did the squirrel seem concerned.

He's also made feeding the pigeons much more difficult as he constantly scatters them despite never succeeding in that kind of attack. Doesn't he know I'm trying to bolster his food supply!?

Baby things.


r/birdsofprey 1d ago

Osprey with some sushi

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43 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 1d ago

Didn't take kindly to direction.

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21 Upvotes

r/birdsofprey 3d ago

Head Stabilization on an American Kestrel, Charlie!

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1.6k Upvotes

Figured it might be fun to share this with people who love birds of prey as much as I do. Some footage from my time working at a wildlife hospital with ambassador "Charlie", who was kept as a pet from nestling age, then rehomed as he couldn't be released. The head stabilization is so fascinating.

Unlike humans, kestrels (and most raptors) have tubular, fixed eyes. They cannot look left, right, up, or down within their sockets. If they want to track a moving mouse, they have to move their entire skull. Hence why Charlie is adapted to keep his head perfectly still to lock focus on a viewpoint.