Bluebird Back Stage

 

Bluebirds at Dusk

It was an amazing afternoon.  When I got out of the car in the parking lot at Valley Forge, the harrier hawk flew RIGHT over my head and looked right at me.  I am sure she knew I didn't have my camera set up so just sort of mocked me by flying so close.  Then I walked down the path and there was the Kestrel in the tree. And at the end of the long path was a fox walking right towards me until he saw me and then turned around and walked slowly

back.  Then searching, searching, searching and all of a sudden a little flock of bluebirds.  They are such beautiful little birds with so much personality.  Here's my favorite of the day.  It's called "Ready, Set, Go!" Click on those little birdies to get a feel for just how darling they are...

The Pileated Woodpecker - Today in Valley Forge

 

Cooper's hawk!!!

 

                                                                       A few days ago I came across a hawk in the woods and posted his picture on Facebook.  A friend said it might be a red shouldered hawk.  But then another friend said it might be a rare sighting of a juvenile Northern Goshawk.  This friend was very excited, so much so, that I went back to Valley Forge yesterday looking for the hawk.  I got to a part deep in the woods full of little birds including lots of cardinals.  I stopped, set up my tripod and started photographing when all of a sudden a hawk dropped right into my setting.  I am not good at identifying hawks, but it was so beautiful and looked so much like the hawk from the day before, I was totally wowed.  He stood there for a minute and then hopped behind some tall grasses to hide from me.  He could not have been more than 15 to 20 feet away.  I held my breath and didn't take my eye from the camera - just waiting for the hawk to fly.  I couldn't see him, but I knew he was there.  We did this little unmoving dance for about five minutes when I heard movement right behind me and in my peripheral vision, I could see a brown blur running past me.  I knew instinctively that it was a fox, but I was NOT going to take my eyes off of the hidden hawk.  The hawk heard the fox too and jumped up onto a little stump directly in front of me and posed beautifully for my camera.  He was way too close for a really good shot as I was hemmed in by the bush behind me, but he still stayed for a few dozen photographs and then flew to a further branch.  I took a video for a few seconds and then poof, he was gone.  I showed the hawk's photograph to my friend and he said it was not the Northern Goshawk, but just the lowly Cooper's hawk.  Be that as it may, it was a wonderful few minutes in the woods. Click on the photo to get the full effect of its beauty.

Bluebird in the Field - Valley Forge

 

Harrier Take Off

 It was such a good day today - This Harrier was my favorite.   

Little Wet Cooper's hawk in Charlestown Meadows

So fun to look up at our neighbor's roof this morning and see this little beauty surveying the neighborhood.
 

Sunset in Valley Forge

 I was searching, searching searching for something in the woods in Valley Forge the other day.  It was getting dark and nothing came to pose, so I walked out of the woods and there in front of me was the most beautiful scarlet sky.  My big lens was way too big to capture it, so I pulled out my cell phone and voila: