Early Morning Visitors!!

Early in the morning as I was walking around the house, I looked out the windows to find my little buddy had returned.  This beauty spends every morning perched on my fence this time of year,  overlooking the neighbors goats.  With all the grain and hay, it's Denny's for hawks as they snatch up mice and critters for breakfast.  He's all puffed up trying to keep warm in the cold wet air.

Perfect timing ... I'll try out my new lens!!  Since it was so foggy, the first couple of pictures didn't turn out so well.  Every few minutes he would drop off the fence, then come back with something in his claws ... appetizers I'm sure.

If you're a photographer with a new lens, you'll take pictures of anything!!  Really, this is a terrible picture.  That heavy lens is VERY hard to hold still.  I need a tripod for pictures like this.  Still, it's pretty cool to see his eye and the hair on his legs!  I'll get better with practice.

In the late morning, the Red Shouldered Hawk came back for the grand slam breakfast, much more sleek and beautiful.  I could just sit and watch him for hours.

With my camera, the setting are practically limitless, so I changed from shot to shot, getting slightly better pictures.  What a magnificent creature!

It's all about the eyes ... no matter what kind of animal (or human) you are photographing, ALWAYS focus on the eyes.  For this one, I braced myself in the doorway, since my tripod is holding up Jonathan's heat lamp.

Late in the evening with the sun going down ... they call it the golden hour ... he was back for dinner. As the sun changes, so do his colors.  I think I'm going to like that lens!!  He was well over 50 yards away.

My other early morning visitors couldn't be seen, but they were certainly heard as I stepped out the front door very early to check the sunrise.  Roosters were crowing like I've never heard before!!  Not one, but at least SIX!!  Apparently while I was gone, the neighborhood went on a chicken frenzy!!  You could hear the crowing moving all around the area ... really LOUD ... each one trying to out-crow the other!!  THAT made me smile!!  It's just like being on the ranch again!!