Our chances of seeing this celebrity performing in a Maine city park on a very cold December 14 morning should have been less than those of seeing Beyoncė singing there then. Yet, there it was: an immature Great Black Hawk of the Central American subspecies.
The bird’s main act as of late November has been preying on gray squirrels in downtown Portland’s Deering Oaks Park.
It’s the subject of frequent Cornell Lab Rare Maine Bird e-Reports by visitors from many states and Canada. Experts have estimated that this bird is in its second annual molt cycle, when its sex is not determinable without physical examination. It’s fairly big (maybe the size of an Osprey) and has long legs on which it often chases squirrels on the ground – usually winning the deadly race!
Unfortunately, when it flew near enough for us to photograph it without obstruction, it quickly spun and offered a part of its anatomy that may indicate its attitude toward us:
For wildlife photographers: Nikon D850 body; Nikkor f/4 500mm lens with 1/7 teleconverter (850mm total); tripod-mounted; ISO was usually at 1000; apperatures mostly at f/8; shutter speeds varied from 1/125th to 1/6400th sec.
(Portland, Maine)