This morning brought a silent hunter who took a rest in a backyard cottonwood tree. (My best guess on this one with limited viewing of it’s tail is a red-tailed hawk). With feeding small birds and critters come the hunters that learn they can sometimes find a snack at our feeders.
More often than not, the cover our trees provide give the song birds and squirrels the better odds.
A sky hunter patrolling the skies high above the tree tops. This red-tailed hawk circled for a while, checking out the woods, looking for an unfortunate critter. It’s humbling to watch hawks and other birds of prey from the ground, knowing their eyesight is so amazing that their view of us is tremendously better than ours of them.
A red-tailed hawk riding air currents high above. Initially I though I’d scrap this one but then I decided I liked the simplicity and minimalism of the photo.
A day of target shooting on a cloudy day.
Barn swallows were up to their usual acrobatic antics.
Willow flycatchers were everywhere. Once we’d put enough holes in our targets for the day, I snagged my camera from the truck and bounded off to start snapping pictures.
On the drive back I saw a number of hawks hunting.
A barn swallow, buzzing the thistle.
A little chirper.
I love that you can see light through the farthest edges of this swallow’s feathers against the sky.
Red-tailed hawks and prairie falcons appeared on telephone poles and railroad tracks, eyeing the area for any small critters moving about.
It’s a bit of a downer having to drive back to town to return to the world again.
