To describe my lifelong fascination with flight and with creatures that fly I like to echo the words of John James Audubon who in 1839 wrote of himself as "...one who never can cease to admire and to study with zeal and the most heartfelt reverence, the wonderful productions of an Almighty Creator."
This winter-plumaged Yellow-rump (which birders sometimes refer to as YRW) was hunting among the fallen branches of a Douglas Fir tree in McMinnville, Oregon, on Dec. 21, 2010. A short video of his activity can be seen at the following YouTube link:
I suppose wet feathers make flying difficult, and soaring is likely impossible. So this Red-tailed Hawk took advantage of a brief break in the weather yesterday to hang his "laundry" out to dry. But the breaks have been very brief recently, so this hawk is probably still wet.
