snails_pace Loc: Utah

The other day we drove down to my daughter's place and took the "back way". I don't think any rough legged hawks have migrated down this far yet. But we did find a couple of red tailed hawks that were pole-sitting. Fortunately they let me get close enough to get some pics before they took off.

The light phase hawks are what we usually see here. I think it is a juvenile because of all the streaking.

I've only seen a couple of the red phase hawks before so I was really pleased to find the dark one.

And as a fun project a couple of days ago - some Canada geese were in shallow water. The geese are safe at the little lake here so some are pretty tolerant of people. One had a standard silver leg band. I thought it would be a fun challenge to see if I could get the whole set of numbers off the band. I was able to shoot enough different angles to get the whole set of numbers. When the gov't opens up again, I'll send the number to the bird banding lab and see if they send back the info on the bird.

The photo was tonemapped from a single RAW file to help bring out the number.

oldmalky Loc: West Midlands,England.

The hawks were super and just as a photo on its own i enjoyed the goose.
:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

snails_pace Loc: Utah

Thank you for the comments.

The leg bands are an important part of the US and Canadian bird conservation programs. I mainly see them on geese, but banding is done on birds as small as hummingbirds. There are also secondary markers ... on geese I very occasionally see neck collars. I photograph them and send the sighting info into the bird banding lab. It's really interesting to find out sex, how old the bird is, when and where the banding/ collar were done.

naturepics43 Loc: Hocking Co. Ohio - USA

Very nice series! Hawk photos are super.
Speaking of a challenge with the leg band on the goose, I had a Junco visit my feeder a couple of years ago that was banded. I too took the challenge. I took over 200 images over a 6 day period before I got all the numbers. Really small band on the Junco and it didn't stand still very often. It was banded in New York ( I live in Ohio) the year before as an immature just about ready to leave the nest. They were really excited to have a live sighting of a Junco. Probably a once in a lifetime experience. Felt good to be a small part of such a large project. Sounds like you also enjoy contributing to the project.

Happy shooting, Allen

snails_pace Loc: Utah

Thanks for the comments.

Getting the band numbers for a Junco is most impressive! A lot of perseverance. I suspect they don't get nearly as much band data for the smaller birds.

I got the info back on my band - it is a female, banded in 2009, hatched 2007 or earlier. Yesterday I was able to get the info from two more bands. The geese learn that they are safe at the lake here. Sometimes they are on the shore or shallow water and I can slowly get close to them.