The Protector Overhead!

Standard

The hawk patrols his skiesDSC02829

 

Driving out the intruders DSC02831

 

Crying out at them in rageDSC02835

 

Protecting his domainDSC02852

And ours.

 

About these ads

About cindy knoke

I retired early after 27 years as a psychotherapist/mental health director (Cindy Barton LCSW) and moved to the outer limits of no-wheres-ville to a home I call "the holler." My closest neighbors are coyotes (packs and packs of them and they are HUNGRY), rattlers (lots and lots of them and they are MEAN), and free range cows/bulls (the bulls aren't too friendly either!) Forget cell phones. They don't work out here. Forget GPS, it misdirects. It's best not to wander too much out here, the people (and their dogs) are kinda twitchy. To reach the holler your turn right at the reeking chicken farm, down a bunch of pot-holed semi-streets/dirt roads, past the abandoned refrigerators and occupied old RV’s and then things get kinda dicey. My friends usual reaction to the trip to the holler is, “you’ve got to be kidding!” Or, “Next time let’s meet half way.” This is our little bit of heavenly Appalachia right here in rural California. I blog about traveling which I do about three months a year, cooking which I love, photography, usually of my food and trips, books, holler happenings, and anything else that strikes my fancy. Stop by the blog and take a peek. It’s safe. I promise. Cheers, Cindy

25 Responses »

  1. I am enraputured by these hawks. When I hear their distinctive, piercing cries, I run outside with my camera, but they fly up to 125 mph and soar so fast and high, they are VERY hard for my puny little sony to capture. So, thank you!

    • As usual from you, this is so true!
      As a child, in Wyomming, I used to lay on the ground and watch the eagles circle, laying perfectly still. They always flew closer to see what I was doing.
      Watching wildlife for a photo is like a natural narcotic for me. It makes me feel so peaceful, especially when they come close.
      The hummingbirds practically brush my cheeks now.
      What bliss!

  2. The first is my favorite, being able to see the under coloration of the hawk’s wings. I have a resident red-shouldered hawk in my small haven of the universe. It visits my bird station and waits. It’s magical for me, but not the small game it seeks.

    • Yes we have red shouldered hawks here as well. So distinctive with their black and white wing stripes. They hunt cooperatively here and always seem to be eating some prey on the ground. There is something about seeing the raptors up close that is very magical for me as well. Thank you.

  3. WoW! Excellent photos! I have a whole folder full of *almost* and *so close* shots of the hawks around here…they do not like to stop & pose, do they?! Do you see smaller birds chase them very often? The sparrows & grackles here sure give the hawks fits; makes for some amazing swoops and dives once the chase is on.

    • I so wish I was able to catch the hawks diving and fighting and shrieking with their wonderful cries. I have only now started to be able to catch a reasonably decent photo of the hawks, so I know it just requires patience and practice. I have a long way to go, but that’s good!
      I haven’t seen small birds chase them off, but I have seen flocks of Ravens harrass them daily. They seem evenly matched, 2 hawks vs 2o ravens!
      Post some photos! I want to see them!

      • At least when it comes to getting good photos of the birds, the practicing part never gets boring! It is really funny to watch the smaller birds like sparrows gang-up and work together to defend their territory from the hawks…for such small birds, they sure are brave! I watched them keep a hawk pinned in the top of a tree one morning but I wasn’t home and had no camera to catch it with, of course.
        I put together a slide-show of our New Mexico birds and made it into my blog post today – hope you enjoy! :-)

      • Your slide show is wonderful! It makes the veiwer feel THERE in the moment. Love the slide format and the birdsong! So evocative of the place. The photos were lovely. The roadrunner, the quail, all the raptors, those in flight and the one in the tree were wonderful. I loved the Canadian Geese in flight and the peacocks on the road. All it wonderful. Thank you for the post!

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. Log Out / Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s