Oh POOP, Did You See That Hawk?

Yes, that is actually Hawk POOP!

While my friends from Holland were visiting me here in Maryland, we drove the 15 miles up to Gettysburg, to show them the Battlefield.

They were very interested in seeing birds on the Battlefield, and I did my best to take them to places that I usually see Red Tailed Hawks. We had two sightings, but nothing of any significant result.

A few days after they left, on my way home from work, I decided to go through the Battlefield...just in case.

As I was coming through the Battlefield, I noticed a car that was stopped along the side of the road and quickly realized they were looking at a Hawk and were trying to get some photos. They were right up on the Hawk, so I stayed back a little and started taking some photos.

The sun was setting at approximately 45 degrees, camera right, which means that I was pretty much shooting into the light. I did my best to expose for the Hawk, which meant that my sky would be a bit over exposed. I was going to darken the sky a little; however, I kind of like how the darker colors of the Hawk stand out against the almost white sky.

The other people were pretty close to the Hawk and it soon took flight toward another fence post.

I followed the Hawk to several other posts on the same side of the road.

The Hawk did drop down and grab some food, which turned out to be a mole. I have seen Hawks grab food and then come back up to a higher spot to eat.

For this next shot, I was probably only 15 feet away from the Hawk. He seemed to stare right at me; I love the way the light catches in the corner of its eye.

This next shot was taken from my car. The Hawk was on a fence post that was on a higher section of ground, which put me in the position of shoot up on the Hawk.

The Hawk eventually flew to the other side of the road, which allowed me to shoot with the light over my right shoulder, and really enhanced the colors of the shots.

I kind of liked the color conversion and effect on this one.

Once the Hawk took a position on a post, I got out of my car again and tried to get in a spot where I could get a landmark in the shot.

The monument in the background is the top section of the State of Vermont monument, which is located a couple of hundred yards back on Hancock Avenue. Eventually, the Hawk flew down to get another bite to eat.

In this image, you can see the grayish protective eyelid of the Hawk.

After posing for one more closeup, the Hawk eventually flew over to the roof of the barn on the Codori Farm, which is located on the Emmitsburg Road.

So far, this has got to be one of my most favorite posts. I hope you really enjoyed the photos; make sure you click on one of the photos, which will open them all in another window where the photos will be a little larger.

I will be putting many of the photos on my website, to purchase. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message.

Blessings!