Here is an aerial battle and some other birds for this #featheredfriday by @melinda010100
I spotted a large red tailed hawk sitting peacefully on a dead tree.
Then suddenly he let out a loud scream and started flying.
At first I thought I somehow scared him off the tree by trying to get a closer shot.
Then as he flew behind some leaves I noticed a little attack helicopter.
Once out on the other side of the leaves the little attack bird was already on his back.
I tried getting shots of the bird riding on his back but my camera was too slow in writing files. This is the only shot you can see the little beak ready to peck the head of the huge raptor.
Meanwhile at the swamp there were many birds trying to cool off in the summer heat. When I took this photo I thought there was only the great blue heron, but now that I look closer there are all kinds of ducks and geese and possibly some grebes or coots.
Most of the birds were panting from the summer heat like this little waxwing.
The bluebird seemed fine in the heat, perhaps this might have been the little beak that was trying to peck the red tail.
There were quite a few goldfinches out and this guy even stayed still long enough for a few photos.
I caught him at the right place where the setting sunlight was to my back lighting him up perfectly. Usually I end up on the wrong side of the bird and only see a silhouette.
That's all for this #featherdfriday :-)