Home»All Photographs»Raptors»Red-Tailed Hawk»Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk Bathing

It is strange to ask yourself such simple questions such as...do Birds of Prey drink water or do Birds of Prey bath and it is very cool to actually see the answers with your own eyes and capture this on camera.

What is perhaps as equally interesting is that when a large bird is bathing and thoroughly soaked it appears to be very tolerant of close observation as though the bird is resigned to the fact that flying is difficult when flight feathers are heavy with water and the birds becomes less than aerodynamic and sleek. This gallery is perhaps too large but it is impossible for me to not record as great a number of shots as i can.

For instance in photos ..16,17,19,20,21&48...you will see the young hawk stretch its beak as wide open as possible and it did not at anytime make a sound. Now that is odd...so why would they do this? I have not a clue why they do this but if i had to guess i would say ....what happens when you get water in your ears when swimming or bathing....you lose the ability to hear clearly....and you make every effort to get that water out by shaking your head or using your finger gently to try to remove it and because the water in the ear will cause an annoying pressure buildup sometimes one might actually pinch the nose and take a deep breath, close the mouth securely and try to put pressure on the ear by blocking the mouth and the nose and blowing. Since it is a very serious handicap if a bird of prey has impaired hearing....is it possible the Hawk here has water in the ear and can only try to relieve the pressure by numerous big yawns and by stretching those muscles the Hawk might help release water and pressure there....this to restore his hearing to its normal excellent level.

I don't know so i will do some reading.....i'll rewrite this caption when i find out.....cheers.....dave.