The Northern Harrier is one of my favourite hawks - not the least because it's so easy to identify with its white bum patch. This afternoon while I was on my way to a friend's place, this handsome fellow flew right in front of the car, and over into the field beside me. I grabbed the camera, pulled the car over to the edge of the road, got the window down, the camera turned on, and stalled the car...all in about 20 seconds. This reinforced two thoughts I've had on previous occasions:
1) I need a bumper sticker that says "Pay Attention!Birder on Board. Watch for sudden swerves and stops."
2) Maybe I shouldn't have bought a car with a manual transmission.
Now, this hawk, a gorgeous Red Tailed Hawk, swooped in front of me yesterday, while we were driving to the garbage dump (a Saturday thing to do in the country). Luckily, in this case, John was driving, so he didn't have to try to multi-task. He just pulled over, and I got the camera out. Still, the hawk was faster than me and by the time I was ready to shoot, he was pretty far away. Oh well, at least the truck didn't stall.
3 comments:
Great sense of humour here, Susan. A birder is a tricky thing to be. Requires a massive Tp lens ... and a lot of patience and abilility to creep.
Thanks Julie...when you're birding and creating havoc on the rods, it helps to be able to laugh ( a lot!)
Ohhhh...I LOVE Northern Harriers too. You capture a great image of him. They are not all that common around here. Hahah....you made me laugh...sudden swerves and stops (isn't that the truth?).
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