This morning I was proceeding with my ongoing order-from-chaos quest, when I looked up to see this visitor out the kitchen window.
I dashed for my camera, hoping nothing would frighten it away before I could catch a few photos.
My best guess is that this is a juvenile Cooper's hawk. Amazing, how it can turn its head almost 180 degrees.
(...the better to see you, my dears...)
I only got a few shots before it flew to the far corner of the backyard, where birds and ground squirrels try to make themselves invisible amid the denser shrubbery.
I was able to quietly sneak outside to get a closer view, but unfortunately the hawk was shaded by neighboring palms.
It struck me that the backyard becomes utterly silent when a hawk is present.
This last photo was taken just a second before it flew away.
And then, almost instantly, the finches fluttered in the bougainvillea, and the quails resumed their odd clucking meanderings under the sage bushes.
Danger again having come and gone, they live their lives in the moment.
* * * * *
We had another noteworthy visitor last Wednesday night. I was reading in bed around 10 pm when I heard the quiet, clear hooo hoo, hooo hoo of our local great horned owl. It likes to perch on our chimney sometimes.
Again, I dashed to grab the camera before slipping out the back door as quietly as possible.
There it sat on our chimney, backlit by moonlight.
Alas, as I tiptoed farther across the yard, hoping to catch it silhouetted against the moon, it silently glided off into the night.
I'm determined to get good photos of this owl someday, but it would help if it would show up before dark.
(P.S. For incredible photos of birds of prey of all sorts, check out Linda Wright's Looking Up, listed in my sidebar favorites.)