I've posted several photos at my photo blog, Recent Developments in the Boonies, but here's my favorite from Saturday's hawk photos. As I was walking to the mailbox, a hawk of a different variety (very noisy - possibly a Cooper's Hawk) flew over my head. Unfortunately, I ran to get my camera and it needed a new battery. No photos of that fellow. But, then we went out to see what we could track down and saw 4 or 5 more hawks. This one is a red-tail that was perched in a tree near one of the Mississippi River overlooks, just above Vicksburg's Riverfront Park.
Just after I snapped this photo (it's heavily cropped to get in close to his face), he took off. Hawks generally don't let you get too close; once they spot you they leave. I was very fortunate to get this photo.
That is a wonderful photo! I would love to know what that guy was thinking about before he flew away.
ReplyDeleteThanks Nyssaneala,
ReplyDelete"Darn. I was having such a nice nap before she interfered," is my guess.
He doesn't look thrilled to see me, does he? LOL
Hawks are so elegant, aren't they? Great photo!
ReplyDeleteJenclair,
ReplyDeleteThanks. Yes, they're absolutely breathtaking creatures!
AWESOME photo, Nancy!! You are so danged talented with that camera. I'm in complete awe of your work. Truly.
ReplyDeleteThis one has 'tude! He's looking right down his nose at the intruder, to the point of crossing his eyes, concentration. You go Bird! :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing...
Les,
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks! You've given me my warm fuzzy for the day. :) Peek in my sidebar - I just added a couple pics of flowers that are blooming in our yard.
Maggie,
Isn't that cross-eyed look funny? I printed him out and turned the pic into a bookmark and he's sitting here staring me down. LOL
Wow, that is a beautiful photo indeed, Nancy! Love the look, lol!
ReplyDeleteLotus,
ReplyDeleteThanks. That look is something, isn't it?
Wow, that's an amazing shot!
ReplyDeleteHow cool!
ReplyDeleteNo fair! You have flowers blooming and all we have is MORE snow. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Lesley!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nik!
Les,
They're pretty, but I would love to see some snow, myself!
We have more than that, actually, but I didn't get a good shot of the flowers on our hill in the backyard. I'll try again, today, if it's not too soggy (we had quite a noisy thunderstorm, last night). It occurred to me that we have things blooming year-round, here, so it might make a fun sidebar feature to show what's blooming. :)
My gosh, how beautiful! How did you get so close to him (or were you using a good lens?)?
ReplyDeleteI'd probably trip on my way over and scare the beauty away!
Colleen,
ReplyDeleteIt was a little of both. I have a 300mm lens (actually, it's a zoom but I kept it at 300) and I stayed in the shade of the tree for as long as possible to try to keep him from spotting me. He really stayed put much longer than I expected. I was exceptionally lucky to get so close before he flew away.
Wow, that's a great shot if they're that hard to photograph because it looks like he POSED for you. Fabulous picture.
ReplyDeleteCarrie,
ReplyDeleteThanks. He was just making sure I didn't get too close. I love it that they do look directly at you right before they take off. It's like hawks are big business investors assessing the risk and then when it gets to risky . . .they're out.
I had the same thing happen with a Cooper's in my yard. My camera battery was dead but the bird stuck around while I charged it for 5 minutes, took a bunch of photos, charged it again and took more photos. I was so lucky.
ReplyDeleteGreat photo and happy reading.
Sarala,
ReplyDeleteWow, you were very lucky! Hawks don't usually stay in one place for very long, from my experience. I think this particular fellow was taking a cat nap and I just lucked out finding a mildly sleepy bird. :)