They have two shows during the day where they bring several birds into the 'weathering' area and place them on perches. These perches are about 10' from the wooden railing surrounding the area so the birds are easy to photograph....
The Dallas
Zoo has some but not many. They have an aviary you can go in with smaller birds.
The FT.Worth Zoo Had some but they were all in tinay aviaries and you had to shoot through the wire fence.
:(
I will have to go back to the Dallas Zoo Danny (crabappl3) got some nice shots from there. I need to rent a large 75-300mm zoom or etc. My Sigma does not work with the 10D and I have not called Sigma about getting it updated yet.
Originally posted by jmsetzler:
Originally posted by Calvus:
John
Great shots! I wish we had something that nice in this area :)
If you have a zoo, you should be able to get close to some big birds...
John, we have the Falcon and the Hawk, actually many of them that live right in my neighborhood. Since they started clearing some of the woods next to my subdivision, they seem to come out of the woods, so I have to watch my little Rat Dog, a rat terrier.
The merlin and the red tail hawk hunt in open areas so they are not gonna spend much time in the woods. I doubt that they would mess with your dog though. It's too heavy for them to carry off. These birds can't carry but about half of their own weight, and they don't weigh much. A full grown red tail hawk weighs in at 3 pounds or less. The Merlin weighs much less than that.
Wow, thats good to know. He's less than 10lbs and it worries me that they circle when he's out. They are beautiful to watch though. I think all the field mice from the cleaning has brought so many of them. There was always a few but now they're everywhere. We even have some HUGE buzzards, very large wingspan that hover. And the owls, well, they rock too but are a rare.
If they are circling above, you can be guaranteed that they have already seen your dog if it's out :) I was told that these birds, especially the red tail hawk, can see a mouse moving from 300 feet up. They have incredible vision.
Beautiful shots John! Its not the first time I've heard about the Raptor Center. Might to have plan a trip there. Does anybody know if there is something like this in the midwest? Here are two of my attempts at Red Tails in the urban wild. They don't sit too long when you start approaching. We have three at work that stay all year.
Beautiful shots John! Its not the first time I've heard about the Raptor Center. Might to have plan a trip there. Does anybody know if there is something like this in the midwest? Here are two of my attempts at Red Tails in the urban wild. They don't sit too long when you start approaching. We have three at work that stay all year.
If you should decide to visit, March 27 and April 3 (I think.. two consecutive saturdays) they are having photographer specials from 8am till Noon where they bring out a LOT of the birds and place them in a more natural environment for photo opportunities. I have requested info on this but haven't received it yet.
Full grown eagle is only twelve pounds! Birds are deceptive their bones are hollow and feathers make them look much larger and heavier than they actually are! The most effective and ferocious of all raptors is the Great horned owl, they nickname it the tiger of the forest, not much escapes it and it is silent in flight.
We took this shot at the Texas State Fair last year.
They had a Birds of America show on the fair grounds and he came flying out of a cage they hoisted to the top of the arena with a large crane.
It was amazing. His wing sapn is like 10' I do believe.
I got this shot there also. I did not clean it up very well I need to redo it.
Hey Deadwolf, A great horned owl will kill and eat something as large as a house cat/skunk. I've fond cat skulls in horned owl nests several times. So, you'd better watch that little doggie, he may end up as an owl pellet. Also, I like goshawks, to me they are the most powerful of the Norht American raptors. Goshawks have been known to kill Great Horned Owls. Van
P.S. Calvus, The gray hawk you showed looks like a harpy eagle to me. Could be one of the monkey eagles though.
Van, Yea, we do have some large owls around here. The rabbit that used to rob my garden is now MIA. The owls only seem to be around at night though and we always stay out with the rat dog at night. I wish I could get some shots of them.
