15Jul-Photo Release – This is another short shoot because once again I sucked at it. Nothing I did would focus on the birds. Very few were close enough to tell the story effectively, but none are print worthy. Whenever I hit that plateau of “enough”, I have to shut it down or I explode. That’s me! 😕 I’ve tried every which way from Sunday to Zen myself out of that mode. I’ve only succeeded in worsening the situation because reason has already left the scene by then.
Okay, now that I’ve exposed that nerve, back to the shoot.
This is a story of two determined birds – one had an occasional backup. The set starts with the best image of about thirty I made of it sitting on that fence before it finally flew off. This is our first super-hero, if you will (there are no villains in this story). Mock-one, the Mocking bird. Mock-two shows up when Hawk-one seems to be gaining the upper hand. Hawk-two, the cowardly waste of feathers, has already left the scene as soon as the dive-bombers showed up. Typical male, leaving Mama to fend for herself against these dive-bombing buzz saws.
(find the rest of this story after the gallery – or click here to read it now)
15Jul-Photo Release
Tesla-Discovery Park, May 08, 2019
NOTE: I know it looks like the flight shots are all against the sky – so how did the the camera focus at all if not on the birds? – right? I cropped the heck out of these, there were trees and fences and brush all around.
The rest of the story – 15Jul-Photo Release
Mama actually stood her ground for quite a span of hair-raising, “we’re-not-sharing-the-same-air-space-with-you” attacks. Domination is the game and the Red Tail likes that spot to hunt ground squirrels. It takes a lot of effort and energy to lift that great weight into the sky and then zero in you your prey, then go and get it. By the end of a hunt, most hawks need a breather before they can get their lunch back to their favorite and safe dining spot. Having the perfect perch to attack from is vital to a successful hunt for the Red Tail.
I’ve watched Vultures, several of them, gang up on lesser hawks and steal the catch. Not with Mama they don’t. Mama is like to have one of them for desert. The squirrels must have had a meeting because they all moved to the end of the field where their feathery little allies keep the Redtails in check – mostly – except for that cussed old lady hawk who doesn’t easily give an inch. But these mini-guardians of the airways will have no part of a savage like Mama in their front yard. Not on Mock-one’s watch, anyway.
Mama finally took flight, and in the way of the soaring birds, used the thermals and sweeping, ever-wider circles to reach an altitude from which she can glide away or dive and maneuver away from the little pests. Flapping hard and a lot to get away is just too exhausting. Throughout her ascent and right up until she sailed off for the next telephone pole perch, about 100 yards away. Not the perfect perch, but good enough for the Mock squadron to RTB. Mockingbirds can’t soar – not enough wind-catching surface area on the wings. Mama settled in waiting for the next fool to test her skills.
15Jul-Photo Release
I had shots of the two hawks on the pole together, Papa taking off at the first sign of Mock-0ne, and then Mama by herself. Then the attacks on her, and then where Mama ended up. All of them were terrible. I mean awful! Now, back then was before cataract surgery. I had way more trouble seeing than even I thought. When I got home and saw the massacre I’d made of the shoot, I dug into the camera settings and couldn’t find anything wrong. Finally, looking through the viewfinder, the focus point indicator (square) was buried in the top right corner. I was focusing on the sky mostly. I had such severe tunnel vision I didn’t see that sucker at all. In some images the aperture was closed down enough so that if there was anything else to focus on in the frame, the bird had a good chance of being in focus too – most of these “good” images were sharp overall if not tack sharp on the subject. What you see here are the best of, and there ain’t many. Feisty little birds when protecting their territory.
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15Jul-Photo Release
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