Augur Hawk

Apparently, only in the U.S. do we call this a Hawk and the rest of the world calls it an Augur Buzzard.  I got a shot of this beautiful creature at the "Raptor Festival", an annual event at a local Nature Center.  This species is native to Africa, and it is the mascot of the Seattle Seahawks football (gridiron) team. This particular hawk is the brother of the mascot that flies at all of the Seahawks home games.  

The festival was set up a bit differently this year, with fewer handlers and almost no opportunity to get a shot without the handler.  They were also very close so I was only able to get close-up portraits.  I have included a couple of more shots in extras: another of this beauty, a burrowing owl and a sharp-shinned hawk.

This evening we attending a Washington Performing Arts concert of Philharmonix, a group of six world-class musicians, from the Berlin and Vienna Philarmonic orchestras who play their own arrangements of classical, jazz, folk, klezmer, Latin and pop and they have a wonderful time doing it.  It was so enjoyable.  I sat with a smile on my face throughout the whole concert.  Real toe-tapping stuff.