Maria Small
October 2026 - A Wet and Emotional Red-Tailed Hawk
Original
Original 2
About the Image(s)
Last August, right around noon, I was walking down a path in the Japanese garden of the Huntington Museum and Gardens that has a stream running alongside it when I spotted a Red-Tailed Hawk perched on a big rock, looking intently at the water. Then it jumped in the water and took a vigorous bath and climbed back to the rock, then jumped back twice for more vigorous bathing. Finally it settled on the rock utterly wet
and seemed like it wasn’t sure of what to do next, still staring at the water. Then it started to emit a dramatic loud and hoarse scream and, from time to time, looked up towards the sky. I too looked up and there was another hawk, probably its partner, flying above the area. I was amazed at how remarkably small, deflated and vulnerable
compared to its usual majestic, fluffed up self this red-tailed hawk looked.
It was about 12:30 pm on a very warm summer day and the sun was shining brightly when I took this image. My camera settings were f6.3, 1/1600 s, ISO 640 @214 mm.
Post processing was done in Adobe Photoshop.
I added another image of when the hawk was wet but not looking too vulnerable and
deflated.
10 comments posted
You know, I don't believe that the Red Tailed Hawk was intimidated or threatened by my presence. Initially there were only three of us observing its interesting behaviors from a good distance but soon enough a man and his son joined us. What the hawk did, which surprised and amused me, was to move even closer to them and me too, then continued communicating with its partner flying above us with its beak wide open. Posted: 10/23/2026 18:14:56
This seems like another in your series of "birds with open beaks." While they've all been great, this one is my favorite. I've never seen a hawk after a bath and the appearance with all the wet and fluffed feathers is remarkable. Also, the hawk seems to be very well lit - great way to take advantage of the natural lighting. And also a great job on the post-processing - great all around! Posted: 10/05/2026 12:50:56
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and observations of birds when they are bathing. Yes, I was thrilled to observe and capture this hawk's before-and- after bathing behaviors. Posted: 10/23/2026 18:25:46