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Sunday, June 24, 2018

CAP Had Very Successful Skyhunters in Flight Photo Shoot

On Saturday, June 23, 2018, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. CAP sponsored a bird photo shoot with Brian Bradley at Osbornedale State Park in Derby, CT. Brian does many educational programs as well as photo ops with his birds. 

Dave Meredith's Event Description

The event turned out great as the 28 photographers were able make use of the cloudy overcast conditions to photograph 8 different birds of prey. Our location offered a pond for a backdrop as well as a natural habitat of shady trees. Other winged invaders – especially the red winged blackbirds - expressed their displeasure at the presence of the hawks and owls. 

Brian started out the event with four birds on perches. The photographers rotated at ten minutes intervals so everyone had plenty of time to photograph each beautiful bird. All the photographers were most willing to help each other with camera settings to get their best shots.

The beautiful birds were stars of the event. A Red Tailed Hawk, EurAsian Eagle Owl, Coopers Hawk, Kestrel (the smallest member of the falcon family), Gryf Falcon, Barn Owl, Southern White-Face Owl, and a Harris Hawk and a couple more.

In the final hour of the event, Brian had the Harris Hawk fly and chase prey from the trees 5-6 times - this was the highlight of the day. The red-winged blackbirds dive bombed the Hawk almost every time it flew. Brian attempted to have eagle-owl demonstrate chasing prey, but the bird was not in the mood as the little song birds had annoyed him earlier. 

It was just a wonderful day with Skyhunters in Flight. I want to thank every one of you who attended the event, and of course, Brian Bradley and his birds of prey. 

Photographs from the Event

Photo by Cindy Gosselin


Photo by Cindy Gosselin
Photo by Chane Cullens

Photo by Chane Cullens