Fringe benefit

One of the ‘fringe benefits’ on living on the ‘fringe’ of New Haven is having a red-shouldered hawk decide your neighbor’s or your walnut trees are the place to be on a late November morning to catch a bit of early morning sun. Our little birds are not concerned with the hawk overlooking our feeder and blue jays are almost as brave as chickadees. Add that we have sweetened the deal with peanuts in the shell and that goes a long way to encourage the little guys to show up every morning.

This summer, the hawks hung out across the cemetery and were very hard to approach but with cooler weather, they seem to tolerate being near the house. I think I shot an entire 8 gig card in a very short period of time. This was the last image on the card ( I don’t have time to really go through all the images right now). Post processing was just open in ACR, bringing up the shadows a bit,add a little of the Clarity slider and bring into Photoshop to crop and add a bit of sharpening. Upload to the server, write some quick copy and done. Probably a bit over 5 minutes but certainly less than 10 minutes– wish they all went this quick 🙂

This entry was posted in Uncategorized by Admin. Bookmark the permalink.

10 thoughts on “Fringe benefit

  1. Super Shot. How’s everything going. I haven’t been to a meeting for a while. I am not driving now. I went into a period of falling down and hurting myself. Ended up in the Hospital and found out I have Parkinson’s disease. Also some pretty bad problems with my spine. Not driving because I am worried about my reaction time. Also, I have a tremble in my hands and arms. I have been able to photograph a red-shouldered hawk hanging out my window. There were a few hundred cider waxwings for a few days. I have been thinking about selling some of my equipment (not all).

    • Hi John
      Molly and I were wondering what had happened to you just the other day. Sorry to hear about the medical challenges but we hope that the doctors can find a way to mitigate the effects . We also know you are a smart guy and have probably figured out a way to minimize the symptoms when it comes to photography.

      Keep in touch John– we are on your side

      Bill

    • Safeway??? Haven’t been in a Safeway grocery in a long long time.

      The red shouldered hawks usually prey on snakes,voles, mice and other small mammals. I’m sure if times got hard, they might take a dove or two but we have never seen one stoop near the feeder. If it was a Copper’s or a Sharp shinned, then the little guys would be in a world of hurt.
      I’m kind of surprised the hawk is still here with the cold snap. This is usually time we start hearing barred and Great Horned Owls at night. I might have to set up one of the owl decoys and see if the hawk will harass it– if it will, then there will be a good chance for some extended flight photography sessions.

      Thanks for the walk down memory lane with the Safeway commnet LOL

  2. Great picture Bill. I wish I had a few of those during the summer to keep the squirrels away from my tomatoes. A beautiful bird. Have fun your friend Pat

    • Hi Mr Pat
      I keep waiting for the local news to report that St Louis County’s Administration building has fallen down now that you have retired LOL

      Dang squirrels– about the only way you can protect the tomatoes is to grow them inside and make sure you have the only key 🙂

      We did slow them down with chicken wire cages over the tomatoes back in St Louis, but they have a maddening ability to get into almost any garden. I just wish they would eat the whole tomato instead of taking a couple of bites and then leave it on the vine or on the ground.

  3. Nice shot. Look for you and Molly whever I go to Riverlands..but I know its more of a drive now. It is a good year. The Swans are on both sides of the road at Heron pond.

    • Hi Wayne
      Molly and I have been talking about making a safari up to Riverlands but so far between Molly going full time at work and duck season, we haven’t got around to it. Molly has some time off coming up near the end of December and we hope to get up there.

      If someone has never heard Trumpeters coming in to roost, they have missed one of the most majestic sights in nature and one of Nature’s most wild sounds.

      Hope we run into you and several other folks when we finally get there.

      Bill

    • Thank you Renee’

      I just want to thank you for all the things you have down for Molly and I.

      The fact you like our photography is just gravy to you being a good friend.

      Bill

Leave a Reply to BillC Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.