I have taken all kinds of cool wildlife photos over the years.
From albino dolphins to Bengal tigers to monster whitetails I have been blessed to have been in close quarters with some of nature’s best and captured images I will never forget.
The shot see here is definitely the most interesting of the bunch.
I took this down in Port Mansfield a few years ago. I simply thought I was getting a red-tailed hawk flying off a fence post but when I downloaded the photos, I noticed much more was going on.
In one talon it is holding a (state) endangered (and soon to be federally listed) Texas kangaroo rat. This bird was breaking endangered species law!
Then as I looked closer I could tell the bird has been banded on the other talon. There are several capture and banding programs or hawks and other raptors and at some point this one had been caught, documented, banded and released.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
I say in this case,”at least”.
This is a great picture. It’s one of the reason’s I now try to carry my camera whenever I’m out in the field.