Red Tail Hawk

[Jim Dick]

Yesterday we took Fred & Daisy to see the Rattlesnake Man outside Tombstone. It was a beautiful day and we were glad we went. We found out he is selling his business and moving on 5/1/13. It's going up for auction. Minimum offers start at $100. I don't know who will buy the place or what they might do with it. It'll be a shame if it disappears.

On our way back, I decided to drive to Pearce, a "ghost town" near the Dragoon mountains and Cochise's Stronghold. It was a ten mile drive on a dirt road through an old mining area.  Along the way I suddenly saw a movement to my left. It was a hawk who had just snagged what appeared to be a rabbit for dinner. He flew around a group of shrubs and landed on the ground. When he tried to fly away, he lost the rabbit and landed in a tree. I watched for quite a long time but he made no attempt to retrieve dinner. I'm sure he did once we left.

Attached are two photos I took. It appears to my uneducated mind that it might be an immature as the markings are not as distinct as others I have seen. You can see some fur in the beak.

 

[Seilerbird]

Nice shots Jim.

That is an adult. Juveniles never have a red tail. There are at least 14 sub-species. Sibley usually paints between three and six images of each species. For the RTH he paints 40 different images, the most of any bird in his book. The light color is typical of the RTHs you see in Arizona.

 

[BruceinFL]

Hey Jim! Come back to FL. Red tail hawks are everywhere and you don't need to drive 10 miles up a dirt road to see one.  ;D ;D ;D

 

[Terry A. Brewer]

How many Ghost towns in Florida?

 

[Jim Dick]

How many Ghost towns in Florida?

From this website, it appears there are close to 262! One must remember, Florida is a LOT older than Arizona!!! ;D ;D

 

[Jim Dick]

Tom,

Thanks for the clarification!

 

[Jim Dick]

Bruce,

Attached is a Red tail I photographed just down from where we live at TGO.

 

[Ned]

One must remember, Florida is a LOT older than Arizona!!! ;D ;D

Maybe the inhabitants are older, but the land is about the same age

 

[Seilerbird]

I would bet Arizona was inhabited long before Florida. Arizona is closer to the land bridge between Russia and Alaska.

 

[Jim Dick]

Ned,

Definitely the land is the same. I was referring to the State.

Tom,

There's no question AZ, or the land that is AZ today, was inhabited long before Florida. What we are discussing is Ghost Towns that were originally created by Europeans as they progressed across this great country.

The original question was how many ghost towns are there in Florida. Lots more than most people would believe.

 

[Seilerbird]

According to the lists posted on Wikipedia there are a lot more ghost towns in Florida. But the lists are incomplete and a lot depends on your definition of a ghost town.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_towns_in_Florida

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ghost_towns_in_Arizona

 

[Ned]

Definitely the land is the same. I was referring to the State.

Jim, I know, but I was thinking of the current residents of Florida whose average age is dead   Present company excluded, of course.

 

[Jim Dick]

Ned,

My Grandfather used to say that Florida was the home of newly weds and nearly deads. That isn't as true today. 

 

[Ned]

Jim,  only half true today