ABOVE IS OUR BEAUTIFUL CAYENNE FLYING TOWARDS HER PARENTS CONSTANT CALLS
(CLICK HERE TO SEE PREVIOUS POST ABOUT THIS FLEDGLING IN MY GARDEN)
After a couple of weeks of my looking to the trees and listening intently to hear any evidence of baby hawks on the ground (the robins and jays are happy to oblige with a raucous rant), I finally started hearing 2 baby redtail hawks in the lower branches of our Douglas Fir tree, screaming for their meals…WHEW…they survived the neighborhood dogs
ABOVE IS ONE OF THE PARENTS CALLING CAYENNE TO FLY FROM BRANCH TO BRANCH
I can hardly believe how lucky I was today. I was outside painting our arbor in the front yard black, when all of a sudden I feel a large shadow pass by me. I look up in the morning light and lo and behold….Cayenne is sitting on a branch just above my head, looking curiously at me. I was so torn between staying to watch her or grab my camera…..the photographer in me won and I slinked inside as fast as I could.
ABOVE IS CAYENNE TESTING OUT HER FEATHERS….SHE IS VERY “HEAVY” IN THE AIR STILL
As I came back out I started snapping shots as fast as I could without making adjustments for the lighting, distance etc etc, so these are not the best quality pix but some of my favorite photos I’ve ever taken regardless. I never dreamed I’d get this chance to see the baby again . Mom coaxed her over the roof, back and forth until Cayenne was exhausted.
One of the flyovers shows how close to my roof where I was working this baby hawk was buzzing over
This is a very blurry photo as Cayenne was very high in a tree and I’m sure both camera and hawk moved, but it shows a bit of how shes looking sitting still. I cried of course!!! Another special gift in the garden!!
And this is mom soaring overhead
These are amazing shots! Breathtaking. What I love most is the translucent lighting of the wings.
A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to have a MCKC meeting on a pontoon boat on Washington Pond (ME) at sunset and we anchored under the nest of 2 adolescent bald eagles. Just adventuring out of the nest but not yet flying. No pictures to show for it but lots of visual memories!
Thanks for stopping in to comment , Tiffany, Helene and Mary!!!! I surely feel blessed to have had the chance to see AND photograph these hawks AGAIN!! Next project is to get some HD video of them all interacting. I agree, the dogs have been my biggest worry as every neighbor and our own household owns larger dogs. It wouldn’t be the dogs fault as it’s only natural for them to be predators but I would still be sick…literally sick, if I found out one had met that demise. So glad they are high up in the branches now. Mary that must have been the thrill of a lifetime!!! Do you have a link you can post here to show off your raptor captures!!!!!
Oh Sandy, Baby Cayenne is learning to fly, how precious is that. I am so glad the neighbor dog didn’t get her. Isn’t it amazing the majestic creatures we can capture with our cameras! For the first time ever, I had the honor of photographing a bald eagle last month. I have seen them in flight as I am driving, but never seem to find them perched. But there he was, perched high in an old dead wood tree. He just posed and posed for me. I know exactly how you feel about your baby hawk!
Ciao Sandra, gosh what a fantastic shot you manage to take!!!!!!! You are fantastic!! Lucky they stay away from the dogs in the area!!
Keep looking… They come back again..knowing perfectly they will be photographed by a professional and go on internet for us to admire them !!!!!! Love you tons, and miss you, Helene & Shirin !!
Great to see Cayenne flying Sandra, I think she will be OK. Such a relief! Fantastic photographs too.
Thanks mom!!! I was so lucky Cayenne stayed while I went in to get the camera!!
WOW! Wonderful shots Sandy