Raptor in the garden... Winter, 2011

While having my coffee and reading the paper after finishing breakfast this morning, I noticed the absence of birds at my feeders... this usually means a raptor visit! In the past, I've been able to spot a hawk (thought it might be a Cooper's Hawk but have since found out it is a Sharp-shinned Hawk) high up in the trees nearby when I notice the absence of birds at the feeders.

Today, when I looked out the window, the hawk was perched down fairly low in the Silver Maple next door. I grabbed my camera with 70-300mm lens already mounted and stealthily crept out the side door of our house and tip-toed around to the back yard. After snapping quite a few (some quite blurry) images from a respectful distance, I decided to take my chances and creep closer to where he was perched.

I managed to get within 25-30 feet without startling him because he was VERY interested in figuring out a way to get THROUGH the rose brambles in the bush under where he was perched. He could hear the birds hiding there but couldn't get to them. Talk about frustration. If you want to see a few more images of this beautiful bird, there are 22 in a slide show that will take less than one minute to view.

UPDATE to this post... I have recently discovered sharing my blog with others through posting (using Linkys tools or other) links back to my blog on someone else's blog. As of noon Tuesday (Eastern US Time Zone), World Bird Wednesday is open for sharing bird images with like-minded souls. So I'm posting this there today... come join the fun!