I took a break from all the indoor busyness, such as packing, this lovely morning, and sat in my wicker garden chair looking UP! I looked up for so long I thought my chin would never come down again. My neck was quite painful for a while. I even sent Bob for a can of OFF to spray for the mosquitoes making a meal of my bare ankles and elbows.
What we do to get photos of our garden birds, it's almost ridiculous.
Several blue jays were making such a commotion in the neighbor's oak tree I just knew something was up. Looking in that direction it wasn't difficult to spot this beautiful red-tailed hawk, probably a juvenile as it had a speckled chest. These birds grow to 25" and can have a wingspan up to 4 feet.
Click to enlarge
The jays dive-bombed at the hawk over and over, bumping its head and shoulders.
Jays, highly intelligent birds, are known as the alarm of the forest screaming at any
woodland intruders
The hawk wouldn't fly off, just moved to another nearby branch………
………and was then also cawed at several times by two crows swooping down.
We then noticed a dead squirrel on the neighbor's chimney - brought by the hawk
and dropped there most likely.
This hawk stayed in the tree about an hour……then it flew away, picking up his takeaway lunch from the chimney, all just a few minutes after I gave up waiting for that shot and went back in the house - of course!
Always happens when photographing wildlife, doesn't it?
Blue jay and red-tailed hawk on a beautiful May morning.