After 21 years at our Charlottesville downtown home, we are preparing to
move into our new home in Augusta County the end of August. Up to my
eyeballs sorting and packing, I have not had an opportunity to enjoy my
favorite pastimes - birding and photography.
Yesterday afternoon my husband called me outside to check out a large hawk
with long tail that was perched on our neighbor's fence. I quickly grabbed
up the long neglected camera and dashed outside where I spotted the
accipiter. The immature COOPER'S HAWK remained perched for several minutes,
looking around before hopping down onto ground to root around a mulch pile.
By then I had switched lens to the 500mm and managed to get a nice
collection of images. From the mulch pile it flew up, heading toward where
I was standing, partially hidden in low-hanging Mulberry branches, and
landed on the nearby fence.
During early spring I had observed a large female Cooper's flying around our
neighborhood and now wonder if this is one of her offspring.
After it flew off I took a few more minutes and observed several
hummingbirds buzzing around feeding on the many blooming flowers.
Link to a few images:
Cooper's on mulch pile:
http://www.birdsofvirginia.com/ImageLinks/Cooper'sHawk5_Link.html
Cooper's on fence:
http://www.birdsofvirginia.com/ImageLinks/LimitedEditionPrints/Cooper'sHawkL
EPrint_Link.html
Brenda Tekin
Charlottesville, VA
Brenda's Nature Photography, including Birds of Virginia -
www.birdsofvirginia.com
<BLOCKED::mailto:bt8x@xxxxxxxxxxxx> brenda@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx / (434)
962-4936
"Leave behind what you find; if you must take something, take pictures."
