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Hawk let me get up close for several pictures, perched on an old Oak tree

Better be very careful with raptures-- I know I hunt with them. If she was hungry or had young ones your drone would have been attacked. If you do encounter one and it is checking you out never descend as a red tails diving speed is up to 180mph. Put in sports mode and climb. Great picture to say the least!! The one in your pic is over a year old- Young ones don't get the red tail until 2nd year. Again great pic!

I still think it's a buzzard...

It's not- And certain hawks- not a red tail will fly and hunt in groups- Cooper hawks always hunt together as a team- Red Tail is solo and is one bad bird-- To put it in a nut shell a red tail is an F-18 of the sky's!
 
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Nice pics, but please be aware that its the start of mating season in the Northern Hemisphere for raptors, and red tailed hawks like those, as well as our other raptors are paired off and will start nest building soon. Best to stay away as they will be getting territorial and the US migratory bird act protects nesting birds like those from being disturbed.
 
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I love the shots you took of this hawk, we are able to zoom in even more and not get a fuzzy picture. Showed my wife and 2 daughters and they were shocked at how pretty the bird is and how amazing the camera on a drone can be. Awesome work buddy
 
No problem, auctually the area the pictures were taken are from an old 1850 settlement now farm land.

I’m kind of an historian, locate old lost settlements both Native American and western American settlements and Spanish Mission era sites. Drones help me search for land indicators from the past, great tool.

This particular settlement were the red tail hawk pictures were taken, the first settlers were massacred by Native American Indians in 1850, only three settlers survived the rest were killed.

A good friend and I have Recovered many old silver coins and artifacts from here, all finds went to our local museum and to the property owner. One gold coin was recovered from here, 1846 $5.00 dollar gold piece went to the property owner.

Fortunately, the property owner lets us fly here and search for artifacts with our metal detectors. We are so fortunate, a plate to enjoy our great hobby.

Take care and hope the year brings you great flying weather and super areas to fly,
Paul

do you get into pre invasion of what is now north America? as in the so called native Americans had there own tribal names and cultures.
as in the "massacre", could have been a survival effort from the pre white-man history local tribe.

sadly history is written by only the one sided view of the victors.

no i am just American white boy (aged 59), but my blood line ( my mothers grand mother was full blooded) does go straight back to the Cherokee tribe (which branch i do not know),
 
Amazing pics!! I tried that with a group of circling buzzards here in Louisiana. It only took about a minute to clear the sky. They dont seem to want to be anywhere near a drone. Again, great shots of the redtail. I'm glad you included the pic of hawk and drone to knock out the doubters.
Thank you Hueylane,

Probably should have included this picture of drone hovering up close to red tail hawk at the beginning, I’ll add it sometime today on the original post. hope you can get that close up pic of the buzzards in the future they will be one neat shot.

Thanks again,
Paul
 
Was flying my M2P today, came across a hawk perched on top of an old oak tree. Circled the tree and then slowly came up to her, switched to Tri-Pod mode getting closer. Eventually, was 8-10 feet from her. She sat there not a worry in the world, took many pictures then flew M2P back to launch area.

Was surprised to get this close, Hasselblad camera is great.

Thanks for looking,
Paul

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Very cool photos. Did you shoot in RAW? If so, you can really enhance some of these using Adobe's Lightroom.
 
red tail hawks do hunt solo - but the also hang out & next in close proximity. this is definitely a red tail hawk. i see them close up every day.
 
Very cool. The closest I’ve gotten is about 25 feet to a bald eagle and osprey. It’s one reason I really like the zoom.
 
It is cool, but at the risk of being called "drone police" harassing wildlife with drones is against the law in most all states and countries. That action along with other bad practices will only result in further restrictions on those of using drones.
 
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It is cool, but at the risk of being called "drone police" harassing wildlife with drones is against the law in most all states and countries. That action along with other bad practices will only result in further restrictions on those of using drones.
DP,
The Hawk doesn't look harassed in any way to me, what am I missing?
 
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Are you the hawk? Perhaps if you were your perspective might be worth considering.

Also, the response from the Fish and Game person writing the ticket and seizing your drone is going to tell you to explain that rational to the judge.
 
No problem, auctually the area the pictures were taken are from an old 1850 settlement now farm land.

I’m kind of an historian, locate old lost settlements both Native American and western American settlements and Spanish Mission era sites. Drones help me search for land indicators from the past, great tool.

This particular settlement were the red tail hawk pictures were taken, the first settlers were massacred by Native American Indians in 1850, only three settlers survived the rest were killed.

A good friend and I have Recovered many old silver coins and artifacts from here, all finds went to our local museum and to the property owner. One gold coin was recovered from here, 1846 $5.00 dollar gold piece went to the property owner.

Fortunately, the property owner lets us fly here and search for artifacts with our metal detectors. We are so fortunate, a plate to enjoy our great hobby.

Take care and hope the year brings you great flying weather and super areas to fly,
Paul
Amazing use of technology!
 
A bird watcher who mistakes a Red Tail for a buzzard? Well, OK.... not a bird watcher. Never ceases to amaze me trying to figure out why some people post odd replies. Bored, or dumb I guess.
Anyway, we have the hawks in my area as well. They fall somewhat in the behavioral characteristics of some eagles. That is, there is a limited set of aerial threats in their inherited database. Not much scares them, if it is flying. Your photos are stunning, and that is the real value in this thread. Thanks for taking time to upload for the rest of the members. Keep up the great photography.
 
Yes sorry didn't read...and the converted coordinates sent me to China (won't trust that again, must've sent me E instead of W)
Happens to me all the time. Sometimes software is expecting an E or W and other times, a positive or negative. I apparently have taken a lot of pictures in China. Hope my camera and I had a good time there - I don't remember.

A+ shots by the way. Brave soul you are. Harassing wildlife? Hah! You should see what wildlife biologists do to them, not to mention many of the nature shows you see on TV. This is a mere annoyance if anything to the hawk, who is regularly attacked by crows.
 
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Happens to me all the time. Sometimes software is expecting an E or W and other times, a positive or negative. I apparently have taken a lot of pictures in China. Hope my camera and I had a good time there - I don't remember.

A+ shots by the way. Brave soul you are. Harassing wildlife? Hah! You should see what wildlife biologists do to them, not to mention many of the nature shows you see on TV. This is a mere annoyance if anything to the hawk, who is regularly attacked by crows.

I watch this happen all the time. Sometimes there is a tweety bird flying along with the crows. You don't want to mess with a Hawk but you don't want to mess with crows either, those guys run in gangs and don't fight fair.
 
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