I looked up after hearing a noise above me in a nearby tree. The hawk appeared to slam into the tree. It may have been after a squirrel or small bird up there.
It then proceeded to perch on a branch for several minutes. I was able to take a number of photographs from my Adirondack chair.
I was lucky to have my Canon DSLR at hand. I was back there reading but also listening for the Belted Kingfisher that I’ve heard for weeks around the pond a short distance away.
On this day I did not see the Kingfisher but was more than happy with this Cooper's Hawk encounter. And I didn't even have to get up from my chair to capture these images!
I don’t think this was a “lifer” bird for me. I’m pretty sure I have photographed at least one before. I’ll check this blog to see. But I am certainly more familiar with seeing and shooting Red-shouldered and Red-tailed Hawks.
Checking my blog archives I see that my "lifer" Cooper's Hawk encounter happened in January 2017. Here's the post I did after that exciting backyard event.
I think this is my favorite photo even though it was taken behind the bird. I like the fall leaf colors and how (thanks to some HDR tricks) the feather pattern really pops.
I did need to go to Whatbird.com to identify. I was pretty sure this hawk was not one of the red types mentioned above. I did suspect Cooper’s and soon had confirmation from the very knowledgeable birders on whatbird’s bird identification forum.
The first respondent thought this might be a Sharp-shinned Hawk. That would have been great for me because I have never seen or photographed one of those. Not a lot of difference between the Sharp-shinned and Cooper's. I'm glad to have that trusty whatbird.com identification forum. It's free to join and I encourage all birders to check it out.
But Mr. or Ms. Cooper was awesome to see. I'll continue to watch and listen for that noisy Beleted Kingfisher.
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