The Fire Ant Gazette - A Midland, Texas Blog | "...And a Raptor in a Pine Tree."

...And a Raptor in a Pine Tree.
Category: Nature...
Posted Monday, December 18, 2006 at 09:32 PM [GMT-6]

I happened to glance out the back door just as a hawk landed in one of the leafless pecan trees across the alley. I pulled out my camera, switched out the short zoom for the 80-200 and hurried into the back yard.

The top photo is an image of the bird steadying itself against the gusty wind. After a few moments, it flew to a nearby pine tree (bottom photo) where it remained almost motionless for ten or fifteen minutes.

I was hoping that the hawk was biding its time, intending to pounce on one of the several little yapping dogs who were protesting my presence in the alley as I snapped a series of pictures, but no such luck. (OK...just kidding. Lighten up, wouldja?)

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Comments

Now those are awesome shots, Eric! !

Posted by: Janie at December 18, 2006 10:10 PM

Wow, what gorgeous pictures. Though you had a great subject, so I imagine that's half the battle.

Posted by: beth at December 19, 2006 06:38 AM

Wow.

Posted by: Stephen Shores at December 19, 2006 07:44 AM

Way cool!

Posted by: Phyllis at December 19, 2006 07:47 AM

Amazing photos, and how interesting that the bird was hunting "in town." Tell us again what camera you are shooting with. I have a bad case of camera lust. My beloved F3 is ... well ... time and technology march on. But don't you miss the smell of a fresh roll of film. Sigh.

Posted by: Deborah at December 19, 2006 07:59 AM

So very cool!

Posted by: Jennifer at December 19, 2006 08:15 AM

Thanks, folks. With regard to Beth's comment about the factors making a successful photo, in my case it's 60% the subject, 39% the camera, and 1% (if that) my talent. This photo isn't particularly noteworthy except for the subject matter.

Deborah, I'm using a Canon Digital Rebel XT SLR with a Canon 80-200 zoom lens. And, frankly, I don't miss film one whit. For these photos, I was able to stand in my backyard and alley and fire off almost 50 shots without worrying about wasting or changing film, or having the right speed film for the conditions. (Of course, with film I never had to worry about having the hard drive space to store all those images, so I guess there's always a trade-off. ;-)

Posted by: Eric at December 19, 2006 08:34 AM

Wow. The Canon Digital Rebel XT SLR is the same is the Canon 400D right? I'm thinking of getting that camera...

Posted by: mis_nomer at December 19, 2006 09:15 AM

Nice shots (awesome pose in the pine tree! and the wings aren't all a blur in the other...perfect!) and so true about digital cameras...so much easier and hard drive space is getting cheaper and cheaper, plus you can save it all onto external storage space (which sadly, will probably not be accessible in a few years given how quickly, as Deborah points out, technology marches on).

I'm with you on the yapping dogs...the raptor probably decided they weren't worth the hassle. Baby squirrels taste better anyway. ;-)

Posted by: Gwynne at December 19, 2006 03:45 PM

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