Our Albino Hawk and Me.

Our Albino Hawk

About 7 or 8 years ago we had a new visitor. What appeared to be a large white or albino eagle or hawk moved into our neighborhood. At first the crows were relentless, attacking and dive bombing her continuously. After a few days the hawk was gone and I figured the crows had gotten the best of her. Rats.
But a week or two later she was back and we've been enjoying her and her exploits for the past couple years. She eventually took a mate and has raised quite a few broods.
We've tried to get a good picture of her for quite some time, but never had the camera and her approach in the same place at the same time.
Last June, on my birthday, she showed up and landed in the tree right behind her house. I grabbed our cheap point and click and walked down to the tree to see if I could get lucky. Normally whenever I approach, she takes off so I have lots of pictures of her flying off in the distance.
But that day I didn't see her leave. I walked right up to the tree and scanned it for the great white bird.
Suddenly, there she was. Staring right at me. I shot the best shot I could but the back lighting was not good for my cheap camera.

White Hawk in Tree

Face to Face with our Albino Hawk on my birthday.

Then last night we finally took the plunge and bought a good camera, a Canon T4i. So I put on the telephoto lens and walked down to the end of the yard to see if by chance she would fly by. Living right must have its advantages because in less than 30 seconds both the Albino hawk and her mate flew by quite a few times.

First good shot of our white hawk

Black feathers on wings are new this year.

White hawk tail slightly reddish too.

The White Hawk's Red Tailed Mate.

So this year our albino hark looks less albino as it now has 2 black wing feathers and some red in it's tail. Its mate looks very much like a red tailed hawk so I'd guess our white friend is also just an albino version or a very white version.