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« on: February 11, 2011, 10:05:06 PM »
Busy day for hawk shots!
Hammy visited twice this morning. The problem with that is that the low sun lights up all the dirt on the outside of the window and the camera autofocuses on that. The sun also reflects off the yellow brick wall that surrounds the window and makes the bird look jaundiced. I keep telling him to show up between 1-2pm when the light is best, but these juveniles do what they want when they want. I did get a couple of good shots, including the first one below, which I really like.
Straight out my living room window is Comprehensive Behavioral Care. Lots of social workers work there and park in the lot.
At around 5pm, I saw a worker taking pictures of one of their many nondescript vans that they use to bring their "clients" in and take back home every day. Then I saw a second worker doing the same thing. Then a third came running out to take more pictures.
Finally, I saw why. There was a redtailed hawk on top of one of the vans dining on his fresh kill! Of course, the girls scared it off and I watched it fly a half-block away to Ward St and continue his meal on a tree. I took some shots from my apartment, but they were crap, so I went downstairs to go out, get closer, and take some more.
The light was bad, so it was hard for the camera to autofocus and the sky behind the hawk basically gave me B&W silhouettes, so I had to manipulate the hell out of them and oversharpen like crazy.
The second, third, and fourth photos are the three that came out the best. They are:
2. Eating
3. Burping
4. Leftovers
Of course, I don't know if it was Hammy, but if it was, he apparently didn't like the ambiance of my A/C enough to dine there.
Or maybe he postponed it until the light is better for me to shoot there at lunchtime.
Thoughtful fella.