Cooper's Hawk

Cooper's Hawk on November 6, 2021. While I was out exercising yesterday evening, this Cooper's Hawk was sitting on a fence. This particular home has a dozen or so feeders in the yard so there was no surprise why this hawk was perched there. We stared at each other with approximately 10 feet between us until it flew up into the nearby tree. I left and, being only a few minutes from home, ran back to get my camera. I wasn't expecting it to still be in the tree 10 minutes later. Imagine my surprise that it was still in the tree. I took 2-3 seconds of photos and continued walking down the trail to get ahead of it.

While it seemed fine with me earlier sans camera, it flew off before I could even turn around while carrying my camera. It banked around a house and I lost it. Not wanting to tread in anyone's yard, I went into the neighborhood and eventually found it far off in the distance. A second clue was flock of small birds (starlings, etc.) flew off. The sun was setting and since it was so far off, I came home.

This shot is not background worthy but having a semi-cooperative hawk is an opportunity I will never pass up. This was the first time I've taken my camera out in several weeks due to being in a photography funk. I have been editing photos in the meantime.

Lens - Tamron 150-600mm F/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 @ 600mm on Nikon D500