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No birds at the feeders this day...

tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱

12 years ago

...and this is why.

For years there has been a breeding pair of Cooper's Hawks in the area. Not sure which generation this one is, but it let me get to 15 feet before I saw it. I went back in the house and got my camera and it still sat on top of my arbor when I walked back. Perhaps the 10F made it reluctant to move.

tj

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Comments (14)

User
12 years ago
What a gorgeous photo! You work for National Geographic, right? No? Maybe you should! What a shot.
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
12 years ago
Beautiful picture of a majestic young hawk!

A few days ago I rounded the corner of the house and a Red-tailed Hawk quickly flew up to a tree from the ground. Once it was in the tree it ignored me and stayed there for at least ten minutes.

I suspect the hawks know very well that we humans can't fly and they're safe in the trees (or arbors). I suppose hunters with guns would threaten them but that's not very common, at least not around here.

Claire
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countryatheart
12 years ago
Beautiful photo!
catherinet
12 years ago
We have a deck box outside, right under the kitchen window. Its about 6' from the warmed birdbath and the seed I throw on the ground during really cold weather. The other morning, my husband looked out the window, and there.....2' from him on the deck box.....was a young redshouldered hawk! He yelled for me, but it flew away before I could get there.
It bothers me that I might be making it easy for it to get a bird at the seed........but then I thought that it might just be the cost of trying to keep lots of birds alive during this polar vortex thing. Plus......hawks need to eat too.
My husband is still talking about his eyes meeting the hawks eyes so very close!
claireplymouth z6b coastal MA
12 years ago
catherinet: I used to have a big rose just outside my kitchen window and every once in a while a hawk would land there. It was always startling to see it happen.

This was a Cooper's Hawk:

Another hawk, maybe a Sharp-shinned but I'm not sure, looked in at me:

Claire
catherinet
12 years ago
Wow Claire........that's amazing!
There's always something magical when your eyes meet with the eyes of a wild animal. That's happened to me a couple times with owls. So cool!
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
Original Author
12 years ago
Thank you, folks.

Hostanista, it was a Kodak Moment.

Claire, you are right about being majestic. One of my favorite features of these hawks are their feather pattern on their chest. Looks like a king's robe.

And yes, catherinet, the eyes have it...

tj
docmom_gw
12 years ago
I'm so jealous! What beautiful photos! I'm doing all I can to attract and support as many creatures in my yard as possible. I would consider a raptor a sign that I've been successful. Maybe some day.

Martha
Lorna1949
12 years ago
there lots of food for hawks in my backyard but only seen him once in December got a picture of the back of him he seems to always sit in the same tree there are lots of pigeons to eat for the hawks and falcons
catherinet
12 years ago
Tsugajunkie.........May I ask what kind of camera you used for that first pic? Did you use a tripod? Its a fantastic pic.

I need a tripod for alot of my shots.......but what bird waits for you to run and get and then set up your tripod? :)
Lorna1949
12 years ago
Most people that take pictures of bird own a DLS Nikon or Canon camera. You can get a good one under five hundred it the lens that are not cheap. I have 2 lens and each of them I have I paid about one thousand. The birds come to you not you go to the birds lol
catherinet
12 years ago
Great pic Lorna!
I have a Canon EOS Rebel XTi. I'm sure I could do much more with it, but I have trouble reading (the instruction booklet). So for me, its mostly point and shoot. I really should try to learn more about it.
I mostly use a Canon EF70-300mm lens, which is usually never enough for what I want to capture at a distance. I guess the next step up is huge.
Lorna1949
12 years ago
I agree with you never enough I bought the 150 500 sigma
and still not enough the biggest problem is it is very heavy the best way is if you have a house put up bird feeders also go to parks where there is water. Set the camera on sports mode if the birds are flying or any moving object and also continuous mode If you take pictures of flowers then auto mode is best. I will have to check to see anything new on the market for zoom lens
Lorna
tsugajunkie z5 SE WI ♱
Original Author
12 years ago
catherinet- I use a Nikon D40X SLR for all my pix since 2008 and though it serves me well, there are better cameras out there. No tripod, and, at 10F degrees, keeping it steady was tough as evidenced by my second pic.

Nice pix, Lorna.

tj

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