Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Tanque Verde Wash: Cooper's Hawk

We have Cooper's Hawks seen daily at our B&B. So it is by no means rare. 

I should also admit, that there are certain birds I don't stop to photograph anymore: mourning doves, gambel's quail, house sparrows, house finches ..... 

Yet, as Christine and I were working our way back up Tanque Verde Wash we saw something in the water about 300 feet ahead of us. As I looked through my camera (400mm lens) I could see it was a Cooper's Hawk. The setting made this a unique photo. So I took one (from 300 feet) then started walking very slowly, calmly, toward the hawk. Every 30 feet or so I took another photo thinking it might be the last before the bird flew off. But, no. He let me get about 25 feet away where I got some nice photos. Still there I motioned for Christine to follow to get a better view. However, at some point the Cooper's Hawk flew up to an overhanging branch about ten feet from where it was drinking.

Here are a couple of those photos:


Cooper's Hawk from 300 feet (with 400mm lens)


Cooper's Hawk from 100 feet (with 400mm lens)



Cooper's Hawk Drinking in Tanque Verde Wash from 25 feet

Cooper's Hawk







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