Silver Lining

Huh. Last time I posted I was planning on heading off for birds, photos and adventure within 24 hours. One poor lunch or dinner decision, (not really sure which), and I found myself spending hours contemplating the decor of my bathroom, if you catch my drift. After shifting a planned Friday off to a Wednesday of recovery and spending a Thanksgiving giving thanks for noodle soup and ginger ale I was ready for some good local birding on Saturday. My guess was that being forced to abandon travel plans was a push towards staying local and going back for closer shots of the national A-list bird, the Ross's Gull which had remained at Cherry Creek Reservoir. Unfortunately, I and many others were unable to relocate the bird today, it has apparently moved on. But, starting a beautiful Saturday in a state park surrounded by nature is never a wasted effort.


I spotted this juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk perched just off one of the roads. I was a ways off, but was able to shoot from my truck and get great looks at those pale irides - which will turn dark as this bird reaches adulthood.


The bird continued to scan the field below it, rather than spending much time looking at me or the other traffic, so I waited hoping to catch a flight shot. It dove, rose back to a perch as I followed the road which looped back below the original perch. Just as I drew near it dove again and caught its meal in some thick grass, just beyond where I had stopped.


The bird definitely knew I was close this time, but it was in deep cover and was not going to do anything other than eat. I stayed put and was thrilled to see the bird so close.


Just goes to show that nature can always provide a silver lining, even when plans and target birds fall through.