Rakes

(Red-tailed Hawk)

When my girls were young, I did my best to make them birders. Driving along the highways, I’d happily call out the names of birds that we passed. I was proud when they began to identify birds when I merely pointed them out. It was only years later when I discovered they’d been taking me for a ride all along. Big birds on top of poles, for example, were most likely Red-tailed Hawks. They weren’t really identifying the birds, they were playing the odds. Unbeknownst, they had discovered an important strategy. For if you see a big, imposing bird, perched or soaring, the probability really is that you’re seeing a Red Tail. What they were doing wasn’t all bad. Identifying birds is as much about recognizing similarities in settings and behaviors as it is about colors, shapes, and sizes.

In this image, I tried to do several things: represent the bird’s anatomy and color accurately; show a familiar behavior; and illustrate a setting that is common too—a neglected farm field with a rusty old hay rake. 

Perhaps calling this bird a “rake” is a bit pejorative. He’s really not a debaucher. But I do see him as powerful, sure of himself, and doing what he wants to do when he wants to do it.