Wildlife Wednesday: Hawk in Minneapolis
The more I travel, the more eager I am in seeing the wildlife, the undomesticated animal species. The wildlife existence is not necessary to be far away from my current home city, Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA). For instance, the following picture was taken in Loring Park, a park in the city center of Minneapolis, at early morning. It’s surprising to see a raptor bird in a public park in the middle of an urban area. As I am new to the bird’s identification world, my guess is based on several google image searches to identify the bird’s species. The final result concludes that it is a Red-tailed Hawk, possibly a juvenile one (please feel free to correct me).
The hawk kept her eyes on the squirrels for her breakfast
Just like other hawks species in the United States, the Red-tailed hawk is federally protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act that prohibits the capture, killing, or possession of hawks without a special permit. However, it does not mean they are fully protected, as the Hawks face challenging life already due to the continuous urban development that caused habitat loss for them (source). Nevertheless, I am glad to see a hawk around in the city safe and sound. Stay green, Minneapolis!
Pssstt…for bird lovers, please check out the following bloggers for their impressive birding photography and information:
indahs: dive, travel & photography 
This is a lovely capture, Indah! And to find a Red-tail in the city park is great!
Thank you! I hope to see more too – maybe I should wake very early everyday 😀
Beautiful.
Thank you so much ❤
Always a great thing to see big hawks in a city park. And thank you, Indah, for the reference. I’m featuring more birds in 2018 due to the 100 year celebrated anniversary of the Migratory Bird Treat Act, glad to see you are too.
My pleasure, Jet! Your blog inspires me to take pictures of the birds and wildlife. I had no idea the treat act has been existed for so long – that’s a long-term commitment and I am applause the U.S. government for doing so!
Seeing birds like these stopping by a park at a busy city is a good sign of nature preservation. Hands up to your Hometown, Indah!
Thank you so much, Carlo! I hope we can keep it up with providing them a safe and sound habitat 🙂
a very noble, handsome bird indeed!
Indeed 🙂 They are amazing to see as well 🙂
Minneapolis is a great place to see wildlife in the city – the many lakes and ponds are amazing for seeing animals, especially birds. It’s one of my favorite cities for taking a “city” walk, because it never feels like I am actually in the city.
You are right about Minneapolis! It’s one of the rare cities where the residents do care of the animals in the park. It’s incredible the positive energy that you can get just from city walks in this city. My favorite lakes are Lake Harriet and Lake of the Isles. The later one is Dante’s weekly walk lake 😀
My sister used to live right in that area of Minneapolis – we took some great walks there. Now, she’s out in the suburbs, and the lakes are probably even nicer to walk around.
Fine shot! I just saw a juvenile red tailed hawk standing on a lawn in a residential area and it looked right at me as I snapped pictures. I think it was unwell or hurt however, as it did not fly away or otherwise move, just its head. The crow overhead were circling and cawing like crazy….it was not easy to leave it there.
Thank you so much, Cynthia! Oh no, it’s not easy to see how hard life faced by the wildlife, the food chain etc.. I wonder if a rehab center or local park authority could help in such situation. Once I found baby turtles in the park (yes, it appears we do have turtles in the park) and they were on the way to the pond. I was so afraid people would step on them because they were so tiny (I almost step on them as well but luckily my dog dragged me in other direction). Anyway, I did not bring a phone back then and a person who stopped to see the turtle as well made a phone call to the park authority and the park staff came over to “guard” the babies along the way. I haven’t seen any turtles anymore after that. I hope they are survived..
That was lovely how it all worked out!
Wow that’s a nice shot! My family also loves wildlife and so I’m so lucky to have come across your blog.
– Amor
Thank you so much! It’s great to come across your blog too 🙂