Hawks

Shooting against the sun did not yield the greatest result, but I am posting it anyway.

This is better, but it was a good distance away.  Different hawk of course.

Hovering Hawk

I shot this through the front windshield...or I think it would have been a bit clearer.  I think it is a Rough-legged Hawk.  I am so used to seeing Northern Harriers do this, but then as we got closer and seen the wings, I thought not.  When I looked it up on All About Birds, it says the Rough-legged Hawk can hover if it is facing into the wind.  This one did exactly that.  It would hover for a while, then break away and fly on a little ways, then turn around and face into the wind and hover some more.  This was shot today.

Questions...

When we went down to goose pond, we saw this hawk....I could not get a good capture of it.  However, I am showing you one I have played with in Picasa...

Does anyone know what kind this one is?  I think it is the strangest marked hawk I have ever seen.  I tried to capture it when it looked away but didn't manage that.  The back of its head was white/dirty white.  A spot about an inch in diameter I am guessing.

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I made another block yesterday....

I knew I would not be real happy with that center block but used it anyway.  But then I really did not like it.  I let it lay for a couple of hours but could stand it no long and ripped it out.

I replaced it with this...I do like it better.   It won't be my favorite block...I do know that much.

Quick snaps...

Look at his feet....enlarge the pic if you want.  He is getting ready to turn around and face to the right.  It makes me smile.

These were taken in the middle of the day...hot, and humid.  Across a field.  I know they are not that great...but still I am not too terrible disappointed.  They are cropped...taken with my little P&S camera.

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I have spent hours looking at books trying to decide what I want to read.  There are just too many to choose from.  Hoping I can settle in to one soon....I just always have to have something I am reading.  How about you...is there a certain subject you always look for or a certain type of book.  And do you read a variety of types of books? 

Also from the strip pits...

These are all from the strip pit yesterday...more than one hawk is involved.

This is a Northern Harrier...there are lots of them out there in the winter.

I am pretty sure that this one is NOT a Northern Harrier, but I have no idea what it is.

This is the same Northern Harrier as in the first two pics..

This is a another hawk.

I so wish this last shot of it had been in focus...still click on them to see a better view.  You can still tell he is looking at me!

Hope you enjoyed these...a Northern Harrier is about the only hawk I feel like I can recognize for sure.  

 I captured this hawk sometime before we left for Tennessee...I think we were on our way home from Paris, Illinois.  Luckily, we could pull off the road.

He didn't sit still long once I got out of the car...but I considered myself lucky to get these.  They are a bit better if opened up in a new tab/window.
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So, the cold wind has blown all day.  I suppose we have Sandy to think for that.  I think we won't know for a while the extent of the damage from the hurricane.  It is hard to imagine what people are going through while the rest of us sit in the comfort of our own home. 

Every picture tells a story....

For the first time in a long while, Roger and I went on a rambling drive today...I kind knew where I wanted to start out at, and in fact most of the time gone was on roads we have been on before...with a few new ones thrown in.

However these below, and the ones I am going to show on Time Stand Still are probably not ten miles from home, and certain not longer than a 10-15 minute drive...if even that. Be sure and check out the photos there....
You need to click on these to see them...specially the one above. There had been this little kestrel on the power line and every time I got near enough to even think about taking a photo, it would fly. Usually just past the next pole, but it skipped one and went on...I wondered why. Then gave a second look and there was this big hawk sitting on top of the light pole...it took off before we could stop.

In just a second here came the kestrel and looks like it was trying to knock the hawk right out of the sky! Just click the above picture...it is a tad bit blurry but there was no time to focus. I can't help but wonder if what the hawk thought, or if he had a head ache.
They proceeded to fly on; it was as if the kestrel was escorting the hawk away from its hunting territory....
In the end the hawk was fine and no worse for wear...

Wonder if they even saw each other???

Yesterday was one of those wonderful days...sunshine...blue skies...not too cold. And for being in the middle of the day, the lighting was not as bad as it normally is. So, we headed out for a drive...we chose to go north. I got a surprise when I downloaded the picture above...I had not noticed the plane at all...Roger first called it Almost a Collision...or something like that...then he said, being funny, 'wonder if they saw each other?'
This is the backwaters of the Wabash River...we saw quite a few coots..no really good shots though. This one was almost a good 'Bottoms Up' shot...you might have to click and enlarge to see it...
There are a couple buzzards on top of the barn...spreading their wings. I like the barn anyway.
This was the prize of the day..not so much the photograph but what it is a photograph of. It is an eagle...a juvenile from the white on his chest.

I would love to know how high he was...he was way, way up there and still looked so huge. To us, his wings look too big for his body. I told Roger that I don't know why, but when they are up so high, they look so much larger to me than the ones I have seen closer to the ground. I would love to know why that is.

They're back!

On the drive through the strip pits the other day, we saw a couple pair of the hawks...the Northern Harriers I am just about positive.

It is amazing how fast they can disappear.  It was a clear blue sky that day...not a cloud in sight as we watched both pairs.  Roger and I paused to look at each other and say something, looked back and they were nowhere in sight. 

I am still hoping to catch one while it is hovering...I have seen them this fall, but always in the distance.  I think one of these is one I saw.  They are usually fairly low when they do that....we were trying to get close enough for me to capture it and it took off and headed to where we later saw these.

Please click and enlarge for best viewing.