Fluffing and Stretching

After preening, it’s nice to be able to shake and stretch things out. This Red-shouldered Hawk gave me a prime view of its stretching routine yesterday. Not your typical bird pictures, but I think they’re special in their own way.

Imagine having 5000 feathers and having to make sure they’re all preened, oiled, and in the right place.

As I’ve said before, I prefer to take pictures in natural settings. In this case, the bird was on a basketball backboard, but since it’s end-on, you can’t really tell.