Thanks so much! I've been discouraged about my new camera choice after looking at some early Canon EOS 7D bird photo samples..soft images, over exposed, noisy, EEEeew. I was upset, but DB comforted me by pointing out that the first poster had used a cheap Sigma lenses and lightened the image, and the second one had used a doubler. Then I found a professional photographer's website with photos taken using a 7D that were exquisite, but he could have been taking the photos from up close and using a pricey lens. The Canon EOS 7D reviews are full of glowing praise, so I don't know what to think. I checked a chatline and the consensus there was that it was the best thing for the price since sliced bread. Everyone had either bought one or was about to, and that once you spend 3 days reading the thick instruction manual and adjusting all the settings, you'll have increasingly better results with practice, and they seemed to all be delighted with it. Well, I have to have some sort of camera improvement; as it is, I've spent alot of time stalking ducks at the fish hatchery-crawling through weeds, lying in the grass to get as close as possible-yet the Canon 40D camera couldn't handle shadows or water well and most of the photos were barely usable even for ID purposes. Photos taken with the 7D-look great until you zoom in. http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1019&message=33518247 Camera discussion group, reviewing their Canon EOS 7D experiences http://photo.net/canon-eos-digital-camera-forum/00V9r0

Wow, what great pics. You might post these on the general birdwatching forum so more people would enjoy them -- especially since he's eating a rodent and not a songbird!

I'm a juvvie, I ate too much, and I want my mommy !!! Seriously though, that is a fabulous pic. One of the best. I am a bit confused in that the bulge looks too low for the crop. Could it be the foot pulled up real high ?? Anyway, I live on the west coast, so it is always a treat to see the eastern variants of one of our most common hawks- send us more !!!

In my area, I have plentiful Red-tailed hawks and have them nesting in the old woods around my retired farm every year. The parent hawks are year-round residents, often using the same nest over again until they have an unsuccessful nesting, after which they will choose a different nest the following year. They also usually build more than one nest and then choose the one seeming most protected when egg laying time comes around. But their young disperse in late summer after fledging and spending much of the summer hunting with their parents. The juvenile Red-tailed hawks disperse and form communities consisting of other juvenile hawks and make their way north to the Braddock Bay area of Canada. From there, they disperse again, going off to find their own breeding territories. Gail R (WNY)