I was sitting on our front porch after breakfast, accompanied by a Bible and a cup of coffee – both being essential to Sunday morning (or any morning, for that matter) – enjoying the beautiful weather. The street light at the corner of our yard was decorated with five or six Mexican doves basking in the sunshine.
My reverie was interrupted by the sound of frantic flapping as the birds exploded away from their metal perch and I looked up, wondering what had caused their alarm. Just then, a young hawk arrived from the east, swooping down and alighting where the doves had previously stood. I mentally kicked myself for once again forgetting to bring the camera, but he was perfectly content to sit and watch the other birds flying quickly past, studiously avoiding him. I crept back inside, grabbed the Canon, returned to my chair and snapped a dozen or so photos before he flew across the vacant lot and perched in a tree by the north pond.
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Just stunning! I’ve never seen a hawk in the wild. Had no idea we even had these in West Texas. Fantastic photos, Eric!
Really? We have probably a half dozen or more living within a mile of our neighborhood. They’re a common sight around here. If you’re lucky, you’ll get to hear their rather plaintive cries as their glide across the sky.
GREAT shots, Eric! How3 far away were you? And, what kind of lens were you using? I’m thinking of getting a zoom for my camera, and I would LOVE to have the kind of reach you appear to have.
Thanks, Jeff. I wasn’t that far away. The light pole is probably 40′ from the front porch, and 20-25′ tall.
I have a Canon 70-200mm f/4 zoom. It’s wonderful, but if I was shopping again, I’d spring the extra bucks to get the model with the built-in image stabilization. It would be worth it for on-the-fly nature shots where a tripod isn’t practical. (Your camera may already have built-in IS, but Canon puts its IS system into its lenses.)
Nice shots!
Thanks!