With a sudden swish of wings, the sharp-shinned hawk sharply banked only
twenty-five feet away (I measured it) narrowly missing a bird I wanted to
photograph. He completed the 180 and dropped onto a rock at the edge of a
water pool. Would I be able to get a photo? I had never photographed one
of these birds before.
For you to get the picture of what was going on here, I'll briefly describe
the setup. Outside my office window is a water pool, bird feeders, a
dogwood, several redbuds, a serviceberry, etc. In the doorway overlooking
this bird habitat is a photo blind Velcroed onto the storm door. The screen
is removed from the storm door and I can have a camera set up in this photo
blind while I work at my desk. When something needs to be photographed, I
can usually slip into position unnoticed.
This time, however, the blind was gone. The sticky Velcro had succumbed to
the heat, and I have not yet replaced it (going to caulk it this time).
With the redbud so colorful, I just had to open the door anyway to try to
capture a goldfinch in it. Even though the camera was five feet inside the
door, most of the times I tried to approach it the bird would fly before I
could get a shot. I finally pulled the camera to the side where I could
largely approach it behind the house wall, just clearing the door jam to
photograph the redbud. This completely blocked off opportunity to shoot the
water pool, but I thought I could live with that decision for once.
As my son and I were standing behind the camera discussing something, the
sharpie suddenly appeared right in front of us, diving at a bird either in
the redbud or on the feeder beside it. And, yes, he landed on the edge of
the water pool where I could not shoot. I grabbed the tripod and pulled the
camera to the left about one foot, certain such a commotion twenty-five feet
from the hawk would spook him at any instant. It didn't, and I managed to
get 30 images of it, both before and after he left his calling card with us.
With a 1.4x tele-converter on a 400mm lens, at twenty-five feet I couldn't
get the tip of the tail in the photo. I'm still grateful for the
entertainment he provided us.
A few minutes ago as I was writing this, a sick-looking coon crossed the
yard, climbed the cabin porch, and stood up to the window. It is broad
daylight, and I can't have a sick coon around with five children in the
yard, so this was a concern. Upon closer inspection, it seems one of his
problems was he had just gotten sprayed by a skunk..
You never know what a day may bring forth.
I'm going to run now, and try to find the Harris' sparrow in Montezuma.
Kevin
Oh yes, here is the link to the sharp-shinned hawk photos.
http://www.naturefriendmagazine.com/photos/
