Saturday, 7 December 2013

[cobirds] Ferruginous Hawk with only one eye in Fremont County

I photographed a light-morph Ferruginous Hawk this week in eastern Fremont County getting some close up photos when she landed on a utility pole across the road from where I was parked (and photographing with long telephoto plus some cropping).  I didn't see it in the field but when I uploaded her photos I saw that she was missing her right eye.  Having only one eye is a major problem for birds as it would significantly affect their depth perception which would make grabbing prey a difficult task for a raptor. I have read of raptors with one functional eye--one eagle was kept as an educational bird in a raptor center as it ran into things. The other raptor, an Eagle Owl, was released as the raptor center that treated it for injuries with an attached radio transmitter that allowed researches to follow her as she successfully raised a 3 offspring while they noted no detectable differences in her behavior compared to fully sighted birds.  I wasn't able to look for her again until today due to the snow and extreme cold here but did refind her today.  I have uploaded some close-up photos as well as a few of her in flight on my Birds and Nature blog

I wonder if anyone has had experience with a one eyed hawk?

SeEtta Moss
Canon City
http://BirdsAndNature.blogspot.com

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