The Balance of Nature - Red-tailed Hawk on split rail fence by wildlife artist Carl Brenders

The Balance of Nature by Carl Brenders, available from Prickly Pear Galleries.

 

"...Travelling throughout North America, I get very excited about the old wooden fences one can see in the rural areas; they are excellent for making a nice composition in a painting. Raptors often choose the fences as a perch, so it was obvious that I would use just such a fence for my first painting of a red-tailed hawk. The hawk in this painting is part of the zigzag made by the fence and heightens the feeling of depth.

 

"Red-tailed hawks are very close to the European buzzard (Buteo buteo) but are much more attractive because of their red tail and have considerably more strength in their talons. Their behaviour is completely the same. They live mostly on small rodents, lizards and snakes and sometimes even take a jack rabbit, so they help keep everything in balance. Smart and healthy animals usually escape the attempts of the red-tailed hawk; the one in the painting could be one of them." - Carl Brenders from his new book "Pride of Place." (2007)

 

Print released 1991.