Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2015/05/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Saturday May 2 the California Raptor Center at UC Davis held its spring open house where several of their non-releasable education birds were on hand to the delight of many visitors. One of the new arrivals is Elana, a 1-year-old White-tailed Kite. Ordinarily this species is high-strung and doesn't do well around humans, but Elana was found as a nestling after falling out of the nest. She was dehydrated but otherwise OK (her nest mates didn't fare as well). She is imprinted on humans so is non-releasable OTOH she's very tolerant of people. Young White-tailed Kites have brown eyes and some rust-colored body feathers; these feathers will molt to the white adult plumage and the eyes will turn scarlet as the bird matures in another year or so. http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/accipitridae/elanus/wtkite05.html Jack is an adult Red-tailed Hawk who has many fans among the Raptor Center staff, volunteers and visitors. He's an active and expressive bird always window-shopping for squirrel or mouse. http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/accipitridae/buteo/rthawk14.html Read more about Jack: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/calraptor/meet_our_residents/jack.cfm Juliet is a Turkey Vulture http://www.wildlightphoto.com/birds/cathartidae/tuvult05.html More about Juliet: http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/calraptor/meet_our_residents/juliet.cfm R8/DMR + 280mm f/4 APO as usual. All comments are welcome. Doug Herr Birdman of Sacramento http://www.wildlightphoto.com