Red-Shouldered Hawks--A Day to Remember, Part I

"I am still trying to absorb this day. Not the whole day, just less than two hours of it. I went to visit the red-shouldered hawks again...perfect, balmy, in the 70's, our first really spring day. And let me say, I never dreamed I could land in a place with such perfect timing." Notes, March 7, 2009, Vickie Henderson That describes a tiny bit of how it felt to receive surprise after surprise on my third visit, a series of breathless moments in which I thought one thing was happening, only to realize within seconds that I was witnessing something else, something unexpected. Hawks are fast, their movements swift, silent, and precise. Fortunately, I kept clicking the shutter so I can share these photos with you now.

The only imperfect circumstance was the position of the sun. As you can see, the light is behind the hawk and to the right, in the west. But that matters only because I wish you could see more of his beauty.

On this day, more than any other, I was glad my focus while in the field has never been perfect images. If that had been so, I would not have been standing in the right place to see all that unfolded. And if you asked me, what are you doing with your camera? I would tell you, my camera is my companion, my record of what I see, an aid to my memory and the visuals I use for my art. I am there for the experience, the deep and intimate connection with my subject. And my camera is the tool that so often gives me more detail than I can otherwise grasp in an instant.
Have you ever seen anything more perfectly camouflaged in its environment? In my second post, you can see how the female’s back feathers blend into the woodland and how easy it would be to miss her if you didn’t know exactly where she perched. Here you see the male blend right into the fallen leaves.

Red-shouldered hawks are opportunistic feeders but primarily prey on small mammals, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates, such as crayfish. They hunt from a perch, as well as, on the ground. In the photos above you see my fourth surprise. The male dropped from his perch and began hunting on the ground in front of me, six to seven feet away. I was slightly above him on an elevated patio. Had I been on the ground, he would have literally been at my feet. I almost stopped breathing, he was so close. I'll share more photos of this moment later. In the next several posts, I'll begin with my first surprise, discovering the nest, and take you through the sequence of events that followed.

This is the third post in a series about this pair of red-shouldered hawks.
Next: A Hawk Calling.