On a journey to the grocery store a white object in the Kean Avenue prairie caught my eye. Upon looking west, I noticed a Cooper’s Hawk perched on a bare branch of a tree that surrounds the open prairie. To the east, opposite the hawk, a flock of pigeons were frozen on a telephone wire. I knew I had a shot at him so I stopped my car, glanced to the passenger seat and saw no camera. A decision had to be made, make a ten minute turn around back home to grab the camera and hope the hawk remained or just continue with my journey.
After a minute of deliberation I decided to return home for my camera. When I returned and to my delight, the Cooper’s Hawk was still hidden in the barren trees. The pigeons also never moved off the wire. Lucky for me it was a stalemate. So I parked my car and slowly followed a beaten down deer trail toward the hawk. As I closed in on him, he kept a weary eye on me but never moved. A nearby tree provided a blind plus some stabilization for my camera. I cropped, focused and snapped a few shots before he turned his back to me. After a few more shots he flew off to another tree, hidden again even to me.
