Mike's Astro Photos

I spotted this hawk in my backyard on Friday morning. He liked sitting on top of my covered telescope tripod.

Hawk - July 9th, 2010

He had a good view from up there and then saw something he liked.

Hawk - July 9th, 2010

 There have been swarms of beatles in the yard the last few days and this guy was spotting out some breakfast.

Hawk - July 9th, 2010

Umm protein…good.

Hawk - July 9th, 2010

I wasn’t sure what type of hawk this was so I posted the pictures to a birding forum. This is what Mike Miller from Astromart had to say:

This is an immature Red-shouldered Hawk. Note the bright buffy bar, near the tip of the far wing in Photo #2. This is diagnostic for Red-shouldered, and cleanly separates it from Broad-winged, which can be very similar, especially with a perched bird.

Here’s a flock of geese that flew near my house on December 20th, 2009. They were headed on a north western trajectory. If I were them I’d be headed south, but then again I heard it was 30 degrees in Miami yesterday, so who knows.

Flock of Geese - December 20th, 2009

A10 with eagle on July 4th 2009

About 7-10 A10s flew over my house a couple times in the late morning on July 4th, 2009. I heard and saw them earlier but didn’t have my camera handy. I figured they would fly back over when they were done so I get everything ready and was able to get pictures of them when they were flying back to the base. While I was reviewing my photos I found this one, with what looks to be an eagle flying with the A10. Click the picture to enlarge and see the detail on the plane and bird. Since its July 4th I’m going to go with — this is an American Eagle just because I’m a true romantic. If there’s anybody out there that can prove or disprove this claim please comment on the post. We have lots of hawks and big birds where I live and I’ve seen American Eagles around our neighborhood before, so who knows. Happy July 4th!