{"id":114,"date":"2008-12-06T19:06:44","date_gmt":"2008-12-06T23:06:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogshevik.com\/garneredimages\/?p=114"},"modified":"2008-12-06T19:06:44","modified_gmt":"2008-12-06T23:06:44","slug":"through-hoops-for-hawks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/?p=114","title":{"rendered":"Through Hoops For Hawks"},"content":{"rendered":"

“I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation.”
\n(W. Somerset Maugham)<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sometimes it feels like you can’t win for losing.\u00a0 It’s been a busier-than-usual busy week here so not much time for shooting.\u00a0 The only interesting opportunity found the young Cooper’s hawk tucked inside lots of little branches so it was more stick-picking for me.\u00a0 I’m getting better at it, to be sure,\u00a0 but I wanted something with more in-your-face appeal.\u00a0 Even the furballs\u00a0hadn’t been\u00a0around much or doing anything amusing when I had a minute with the camera so by Thursday I was feeling a little antsy.<\/p>\n

It was a vacation day and we had plans to drive to Lansing for the monthly meeting of the Natural Resources Commission.\u00a0 I’ve been attending these meetings in my capacity\u00a0as president of the Michigan Wildlife Rehabilitators Association since we’ve been working closely with the Department of Natural Resources to modify the conservation orders after Chronic Wasting Disease was found here back in August.\u00a0 This was the day the final decision was going to be made about the various options we’d come up with to continue deer rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

I worked for a little while and then decided to double-check the meeting agenda so as to know just when we needed to hit the road for the somewhat long drive.\u00a0 Normally our item of concern was reviewed during the afternoon portion of the day-long meeting but to my chagrin I saw that this time it was\u00a0up for review\u00a0at 10:00 a.m.\u00a0 It was now\u00a010:07 a.m.<\/p>\n

Oops.<\/p>\n

I quickly wrote a note to my counterparts at the DNR to apologize for my mix-up and ask them to let me know how it went.\u00a0 Then started making other plans for the rest of the day.\u00a0 It wasn’t long, however, before I got a return message back from one of them, obviously working during the meeting on his Blackberry, letting me know the review went well and the Commission would vote on our matter later in the afternoon after public appearances.\u00a0 And would I be there later?<\/p>\n

After all these months of hard work, you bet I was going to be there.\u00a0 So plans were shifted back and the morning continued on.\u00a0 But so, too, continued the speedbumps.<\/p>\n

Around midday Bob called for me to step out back.\u00a0 “Listen,” he said.\u00a0 “What do you think that is?”<\/p>\n

“A hawk,” I immediately replied.<\/p>\n

“No, it sounds more like…like maybe a rabbit,” he said almost questioningly.<\/p>\n

I listened some more and yes,\u00a0the sound\u00a0could have also been made by a small mammal in some sort of fearful distress.\u00a0 It was not a big sound, but it was rather high-pitched and quite ardent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suddenly, the source of the\u00a0sound made itself known, appearing in the brushy growth surrounding one of the trees on the fence line 2 doors down:\u00a0\u00a0a sub-adult Cooper’s hawk, and its almost-plaintive calling continued.\u00a0 Then we heard a second sound,\u00a0a little farther away,\u00a0and quickly realized it was in response to the first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were 2 Cooper’s hawks over there!<\/p>\n

Not one to skip the opportunity to shoot a hawk perched nearly at eye level, I quickly went inside and grabbed Matilda.\u00a0 It would be more stick-picking, but the distances was so comparatively small there was every chance this could be interesting.\u00a0 I carefully set up near our own fence, checked the settings, and pressed the shutter release button.<\/p>\n

Nothing.<\/p>\n

I pressed the shutter release several more\u00a0times and then saw the dreaded “EE” error message.\u00a0 I hadn’t accidentally shifted the f-stop ring so looked at the control panel on top of the camera.<\/p>\n

I’ll be doggoned if I didn’t have a near-dead battery.<\/p>\n

The only thing to do was race inside, drop the battery into the charger, grab the D70, and put the 80-200mm lens on it.\u00a0 A heft to hand-hold and shoot, but the only people who fail are those who don’t try so I raced out the front door and then quickly and quietly went down the street and up a neighbor’s driveway to try and peg a shot.<\/p>\n

The angle wasn’t very good with the Coop so deep in the low brush, so I went down to the next house.\u00a0 It was very cold\u00a0and I\u00a0felt a little conspicuous standing so near the house of one of the less-friendly neighbors.\u00a0 Apparently there would be no good shot from any other angle except that from within our own yard, and\u00a0it was almost a relief when the young Coop flew up and out of its brushy hiding place.\u00a0 I returned home and tried to be philosophical about it.<\/p>\n

But on top of the earlier meeting time faux pas<\/em> it\u00a0smarted.\u00a0\u00a0 A potentially great shot foiled by my own forgetfulness to charge the camera battery.\u00a0 I told Bob that everything happens for a reason; more to convince me than him, really, and with a small sigh of resignation went back to doing\u00a0the daily chores.\u00a0 Within what seemed like only minutes, however, Bob called in from the patio to tell me that the young hawk was back!\u00a0 By now, the quick-charging battery had enough juice to pull off some shots so I snatched it up and ran back outside.<\/p>\n

Sure enough, there was the young beauty.\u00a0 Slightly less-hidden and knowing I was out there watching it:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But something more was going on.\u00a0 The young hawk was still calling and it was still being answered.\u00a0 It was still looking all around, as if to try and see its responder.\u00a0 Then it started looking down and its wings came out from its body.\u00a0\u00a0For a second I thought it was getting ready to take flight, but instead it continued to simply gaze eagerly towards the ground:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suddenly, there was a soft but clear and insidious “whoosh!” and up flew an adult Cooper’s hawk.\u00a0 It landed on a nearby branch and both hawks began to “cloak” and bob at one another.\u00a0 Then the adult moved closer to the younger hawk and the wing and feather spreading grew enormous, reminding us how closely connected birds remain to their ancient ancestors and\u00a0bringing to mind the\u00a0myths of dragons:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The younger hawk was making a lot more noise than the older one, and after a few absolutely amazing minutes the adult Cooper’s hawk flew away.\u00a0 Not long afterwards, the young Coop flew off, too, but it went only as far as the enormous mulberry tree that sits on the lot line we share with our neighbors immediately to our east.\u00a0 I walked around to the front and took aim from their driveway.\u00a0 It was at this time that the day’s gloom began to briefly break up and the light was magical:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Almost thoroughly frozen through by now, I returned to the house.\u00a0 But the young hawk had decided to rest for quite a while and it wasn’t long before I took my half-thawed Self back out onto the patio to get a few more shots.<\/p>\n

It hadn’t been apparent until then but the young hawk had managed to eat.\u00a0 As it rested\u00a0in the frigid gusts of breeze\u00a0that caused\u00a0its feathers to ruffle and the entire tree sway slightly, it would occasionally throw its head up and back,\u00a0mouth wide\u00a0open, in order to\u00a0empty its crop.\u00a0 I managed to capture this as it was returning to a normal posture:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was all so very terribly exciting.\u00a0 I feel almost vindicated for forgetting to recharge the camera battery now; if I hadn’t messed up, I’d have attempted a few shots and we’d likely have just gone back inside and missed the whole awesome show.<\/p>\n

And yes, we did make it to Lansing and, though a whirlwind trip, it ended up being very worthwhile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“I can imagine no more comfortable frame of mind for the conduct of life than a humorous resignation.” (W. Somerset Maugham) \u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes it feels like you can’t win for losing.\u00a0 It’s been a busier-than-usual busy week here so not much time for shooting.\u00a0 The only interesting opportunity found the young Cooper’s hawk tucked inside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/squirreltale.com\/garneredimages\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}