For those of you that haven’t known me for that long another thing that I love is nature and animals. I love to watch the birds and other animals that visit my backyard. And sometimes you’ll find me with my camera sitting outside patiently waiting or inside standing by the window watching. I have many stories of birds and other animals that have come to my yard over the years. One day I would like to have my yard approved as a wildlife habitat – but I don’t think they will since I have the dogs (although they spend most of their time indoors). But for now I’ll settle for unofficial wildlife habitat with my dogs (cause I love them too!). So on to who I found today….
Let’s back up to yesterday when I walked out on to my back porch and startled a hawk that was sitting nearby. He flew off across the street. He was as big as Aspen! So this morning I heard some ruckus outside amongst the birds – sounded like small birds chasing away big birds…. I checked out front later and noticed this across the street:
two hawks
It was a pair of hawks sitting high up in the trees behind the houses across the street from us. I got out my camera and my big lense to get a photo. I though I did a decent job – I am still learning about my camera. I watched them for awhile until one flew away and I needed to do other things. Later I decided to check out my back window before letting the dogs outside to see if the hawk was back in our yard like he had been yesterday. And this is what I found:
Hawk
He was sitting in the tree right by my back porch. I watched him for awhile. He flew to another tree and then sat and listened finally turning his head and soaring down into the back of the yard by our fence. He was too fast for me to get a photo but I watched a rustle of leaves and thought he had caught something as he flew back up to a tree. But it was what I suspect the chipmunk’s lucky day – in that he got back under the leaves and to his hole and the hawk didn’t catch him.
I looked up info in my Common Birds of Atlanta book – my best guess is this is a pair of Red-Shouldered Hawks – and they live in the trees across the street. The book says they stay paired for long periods of time, possibly life. There is a small stream back there in the woods which they prefer to be near.
Have a great weekend!
I’ll be posting some stamping projects later today and this weekend.
