I got lucky with my camera!

Prior to the end of this walk I’d only seen five white tails bobbing up and down as the deer attached to them, unseen by me, bounded into the woods at a distance. A short while later, I looked up and saw this hawk, one of the advantages about no leaves on the tree being that you can see birds much better. Having only my phone, I did my best in the grey morning to get a photo.

After taking the above photo, the hawk took off. I shot as fast as possible with my phone, unable to really see what I was getting. The hawk flew about a yard from my head before taking off into the farther woods and out of sight. When I got home and looked at my photos, I realized I’d gotten lucky, especially with a phone camera. I did just a bit of editing to bring the hawk out a bit more and came up with this.

Home

for One Word Sunday

Lens Artists #73: cold

Tina’s challenged us to show “cold” this week. I’ve lived in the Midwest my entire life except for some years in Colorado, so I’m not only used to the cold, but I really enjoy winter. As we’re moving to Arizona next spring, I plan to enjoy this last winter to the max.

However, we humans aren’t on the front line when it comes to the cold.

“Nothing burns like the cold.”
~George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones

McDowell Oct. 2019 #15

McDowell Oct. 2019 #13

This handsome guy flew by me as I walked, landing in this tree, where I was fortunate enough to have him sit for a time as I slowly moved around trying to get a good shot. He was hoping for some fast food, but when nothing came along, he took off in search for a meal elsewhere.

If you like hawks, go see what my friend Madison at Wild Ozark is creating with paints she makes herself from rocks in the Ozarks. Her hawks are fiercely beautiful.

Taking flight

Tomorrow I’m taking flight to France, although by plane, not by my own wings. God willing, I’ll be back in October with lots of photos and stories to share. BTW, we celebrated our 35th anniversary yesterday. Bless my husband for not minding that I’ll be vacationing when he can’t go! He’s a keeper (obviously). 🙂

I was finally able to get all my photos off my phone so I’d be ready for all the vacation shots, but it took hours and hours. I’d try one thing and it would work, but the next time it wouldn’t (or I’d forgotten how I’d done it.) Or I’d find empty files while my phone was filled with photos. Ah, for the days when I’d plug my phone into my laptop, the photos would show up, I’d copy, then delete. Sigh. Such is life in the virtual world.

Be safe and happy while I’m gone!

Two-fer Tuesday

I was driving along a back street on a recent Saturday morning when I happened to glance at a nearby light pole and spotted these two hanging out. Quickly pulling into the parking lot, I slowly walked very close to the pole to take some shots with my ever-present phone. The bird on the left was calling insistently and there was a third bird on the next post over, but facing the other way and not interacting with these two at all. What a great way to start the day!

I tried to look them up online but had no luck finding any hawks that matched how these two looked. (I have the same problem with flowers all too often.) So if any of you can identify them, you’ll make my Tuesday even better.