Saturday, October 17, 2009

A Photo in a Million

I looked out the kitchen door this morning to see a hawk sitting on a fence post in Bonnie's pasture. I ran for my camera and it stayed still long enough to get a couple of shots with him and Bonnie alongside one another! This one is the best of them both together.

I think this is a Cooper's hawk but am not 100% sure. If anyone can verify, I'd appreciate it. The reason I'm unsure is because we have several varieties of hawks around here with the most common being the red-tailed hawk.

Anyway, I'm not a great birder and we so seldom see these magnificent creatures this close. He was eating a grub on that fence post. We've been exceedingly dry up until a few days ago and then have had rain nearly every day since. I guess the grubs are coming to the surface to keep from drowning and we have birds everywhere right now! BTW, that's why my Bon looks so dirty - she loves to be out in the rain and mud!

6 comments:

Teresa Mallen said...

Well as your title said, it definitely is one in a million. How fabulous that the hawk didn't fly away! What a wonderful photo. Thanks for sharing it with us.

readingsully2 said...

Jan, that is indeed a shot in a million. Great job. I would have been thrilled to have seen that. :)

Teresa said...

Wow... what an unusual shot! What kind of camera did you say you have? I remember you bought a new one not too long ago?

Jan said...

Thanks everyone, I'm pretty proud of this shot but really just happened to be in the right place at the right time!

Teresa, I bought a Canon PowerShot SX10IS back in the spring but my sister visited in June and she had the most remarkable camera! It actually took better pics than mine (actually, she's a pro so she's just better than I am! lol) and it was small where mine is heavy and bulky. I can't remember the model but it was a Panasonic Lumix that had just come out in the spring after I bought mine. It was only slightly more expensive than mine but the pics were fantastic even in very low light. It had a lot of cool features & her only complaint was that the settings dial was in the way and she kept bumping it and moving it off the settings she chose. Mine takes great pics but is very heavy and very large compared to hers. I'll find out the model number if you like.

Teresa said...

Well, without knowing what kind of camera you had, a few weeks ago I bought a Canon SX20 IS !

And I agree, it is a little heavy and bulky... but I'm in love with it! I still have so much to learn and haven't really had much time to spend with it. I did a lot of reviewing on the net before I made my choice and actually considered the Lumix... can't remember now why I went with the Canon (perhaps the 20x optical zoom?) but I wanted quality over convenience as far as the size and weight of the camera. I expect to faintly resemble Arnold Schwarzeneggar before it's all over lugging this thing around ;-)

Jan said...

Hee hee, congratulations Teresa! I did a lot of research before buying mine too & while I really like the camera, I think I could have gotten the same quality shots with the Lumix. Of course, it wasn't out when I bought mine. And, I don't know about the zoom on it - it may not have had that 20x zoom.

All in all, I'm glad I got what I got - it makes such a huge difference to have a good camera, doesn't it?