Sunny Sunday Shots

My friend and I met at the park early in hopes of seeing the Wood Duck but no such luck. We were both disappointed. Disappointment soon turned to thrill as we spotted what had upset a group of Mallards that were hanging out. At first I thought it was possibly one of the beavers that live in the pond, but more exciting, a pair of otters. They swam about diving and swirling in the water. What a fun to watch.

Moving on to the back part of the park where the deer hang but no luck. Runners had already come through. A brief look about and on to another part of the park to see if possibly the Wood Duck was hanging out there.

We decided to take on last walk and see over the main bridge and got another thrill. A juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk flew in close. After a few minutes, it made a futile attempt to dive at some of the Mallards. The two photos of flight are during the attempt on the ducks. No luck.

It flew to a tree and sat with its back to us for the longest time. We laughed saying it was embarrassed by its attempt at the ducks.

The Kingfisher that usually hangs out in that tree was in the next tree over fussing and being indignant that the hawk was in its tree. The hawk made a move towards the end of the limb and we expected it to take off towards the Kingfisher but it only turned and watched us for a while. We continued to watch it for a long time hoping that when it flew we would get some good in flight shots. It was determined however it was not and after 20 minutes or so of watching it we left.

All and all, a very good day!

Long Morning Walk with the Hawk

I had an unbelieveable morning. I went out with intentions of taking test shots this morning trying to determine what the issue were I have been having with the camera. I had stopped at various locations to shoot in a variety of light conditions and was taking notes as I shot so I could compare once I uploaded them to the computer.


I walked up to within five feet of a hawk that was sitting on a broken tree. I was so busy looking at the leaves I didn't even notice it. We both looked at each other for about 30 seconds. It flew by me so close I could have reached out and touched it. I watched and noticed it did not fly but a couple of trees away and had perched on a rather low branch. The photos are in sequence of the stops it took.


I slowly walked around the bend and took a few shots however I knew they would not be very good because of the light. After a couple of shots and I continued walking up the trail. I could not believe it, the hawk flew right passed me and landed in a tree just a little up the path. I continued walking and stopped and took several shots. Once again I continued up the path and again, the hawk flew past me and stopped in another tree. I could not believe what I was experiencing. More shots, walked up the path and again, here comes the hawk. It was truely beginning to be errie by now. When I would stop to take photo's, the hawk would turn its head back and look straight at me. Just makes you wonder what it was thinking. I feel sure it did not feel threatened. There is no way it would have let me get that close otherwise.


I had hoped to see how long this would continue but about this time, a group of school children came running down the path. Oh well, maybe another time if I am lucky.




















As I was leaving, the Kingfisher that I have been trying to get a decent picture of was hanging out in its favorite tree. It is quite some distance away and had decided it was simply out of lens range. I thought what the heck as I my intent was to take test shots. Well doggy! Compared to previous shots, same tree, similar light conditions, much clearer. Maybe I have found my issue.