Blakeman is jealous

Photo, [with photographer in background] by Bruce Yolton

PS Read about Bruce in today's NY Times, article about city's rules for photographers!
[tried to include a link for the article, but for some reason got an error message.]

John Blakeman's note:

Marie,

Perhaps my previous remarks contemplating the linear closeness of NYC red-tails and humans has been misinterpreted.

I have no concerns whatsoever about humans, camera in hand or not, attempting to get as close as possible to city red-tails. I’d do exactly the same thing.

Close encounters of New York kind pose no dangers, either to the gawking people nor to the inattentive hawks. Actually, I’m a bit jealous. My rural Ohio hawks simply fly off whenever I get within several hundred yards from them. They just don’t like any human nearby. NYC hawks, as I mentioned, pay no more attention to nearby humans than my rural red-tails pay to cows or sheep. No slight or concerns expressed.

I encourage everyone in NYC to get as close to the red-tails there as they will allow. Out here, without a pair of binoculars or spotting telescope, not much about our hawks can be seen. NYC hawks are apparently rather oblivious to frequent and proximal human beings.

For both hawks and humans, New York City is a very different place. Enjoy the opportunities to see wild, free-flying red-tails so often and so closely.

–John Blakeman