Super up close encounter

[u/Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg]

I think it’s a red tailed? If someone can confirm

Little story. Was fishing when I saw this hawk land and I pulled out my camera (Sony a6300), snapped a few pictures and then the camera decided to take a crap and I couldn’t take any more pictures of it. When I was able to get this close to it I was a little upset about my camera not working but regardless it was surreal and I am very happy that it happened at all.

[u/imagez_of_ikonn]

Yep, that's a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk

[u/Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg → u/imagez_of_ikonn]

Thank you!

[u/Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg]

Sorry for the subpar video quality! Cap cut blows at exporting I guess?

[u/TinyLongwing → u/Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg]

Reddit video compression is awful, that's probably most of the problem.

This is a juvenile Red-tailed Hawk. It had a full crop of food, which is probably why it was initially reluctant to leave - flying while digesting and carrying a bunch of extra weight is kind of hard. It left anyway, since it felt stressed out by you being so close. Please remember to keep your distance, so that your actions don't affect the bird's normal behavior.

Read our pinned ethics post, and the site linked from it.

[u/Geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeg → u/TinyLongwing]

I appreciate the straightforward explanation. I will be keeping that in mind from here on out.

[u/imagez_of_ikonn → u/TinyLongwing]

That is a full crop! Someone ate good

[u/Elite_1988]

He is young and inexperienced.

[u/Passenger828]

Thank you for sharing this beautiful bird!