Funny enough, I never realized until just now when I was looking at the date to put in the title. This was just around a year gap between the first time I ever saw a hawk right outside my apartment and now. It was a pretty big moment for me. Not only was it extremely exciting, it was coming off a not great trip out to see wildlife where I saw none. I wrote a whole post about it, I would check it out for the full story.
But March 2020 has rolled around now. And the 16th would be two days before I started feeling sick and would call out of work. If I had Covid-19 or not, I’m not sure at this time. As I could never get tested, thanks Georgia. Really got a great response to the whole thing. Real fucking shame that it’s spiking again right now.
Anyway. Staying on topic, the 16th was a Monday and I would have just been getting home from work. By this point I was doing 10 hour days to have 3 day weekends every week. More time for photography. Having a dedicated day on Friday is really helpful as it turns out. Hopefully I can dedicate more days to it in the future.
So here I am, walking away from my car after I arrive back home when I see a large object glide effortlessly through the air above me and nestle itself into the trees right across my door.
Immediately I bolted inside for the camera, grabbed it and ran back out. And then I slowed down and approached carefully.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 800
First shot. Nope, those are branches, come on autofocus I know you can do it.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 640
Second shot, much better! It’s a Red Shouldered Hawk just like before. Although this one is bigger, I honestly wonder if it’s the same one as a year before.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 800
Third shot, still kind of missing it, moving ever so slowly to get into a better position between each shot.
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 500
Almost there, just waiting for the head turn…
Canon 7D Mark II w/300mm - 1/500 Sec - F2.8 - ISO 500
There we go. A nice clear shot with the head turned more towards me. This is great and I was beyond thrilled to have this opportunity, just while I was walking inside. I do hope it’s the same hawk, that would be a really nice touch to the story. A year later and I’m still doing this hobby, longest one I’ve ever stuck with that’s for sure. And for a lot of reasons, it kicked off with that hawk in 2019.