Returning today to the shopping mecca of snowy owl sightings was an effort in frustration. Yep, there before dawn with not another soul around – and four and a half hours later of looking, it was time to call it quits. I absolutely hate coming home empty handed after so much effort or time is put in. It is a fact of nature photography though, you have to put in your time to get the rewards. Bringing home shots of something you weren’t even after is a decent consolation prize, but sometimes that doesn’t happen either.
So, go figure – I get home and am packing away cold weather items. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a swooping swish in my backyard. Anyone with backyard bird feeders probably knows what this is a hint of. So I grabbed my camera that was already setup, and took a peek through the backdoor window.
This guy was sitting in a tree 10 feet off my back deck – in a clear area. Click, click – and he was gone. A result of me sitting out in a blind for hours — nope. Scouting forest fields for days on end? Nope. A bird of prey spirit being kind? Perhaps!
Coopers Hawk, my backyard, Michigan
Thank you all for the comments, I appreciate you taking the time very much so.
You gotta love it! Fantastic shot, Mark!
That is certainly the truth!
I think perseverance also works better when used as an attitude, which eventually results in wisdom, I suppose…;)
The Cooper’s is lovely, looks like an immature?
Great color and clarity!
Mark, you gotta love when opportunities like this come right to your door. Great shot – that red eye jumps out and grabs me!
cheers
Beautiful shot Mark. I love the contrast of the white and yellow along with the darker feathers along with the haunting orange eye.
Isn’t it funny. At the end you get the image and to the viewer it doesn’t matter if it took days knee deep in mud or a 10 second grab…the image stands as separate from the effort.
isn’t that the way it always goes? I often spend the day out in the field, then come home and see all the wildlife/birds here and think “I shoulda just stayed home”. A magnificent shot- I love how Coopers will dive right straight into a bush/tree after their prey.. they don’t waste time waiting for a meal. The red eye really grabs me, outstanding Mark! Glad you were there 🙂
Very beautiful…what a great shot!