Sunday Afternoon Surprise!

Three immature Cooper's Hawks on my deck railings and grill cover (click to enlarge)
Fuji X-T2, 16-55mm f/2.8 lens @ 36.5mm; 1/75th sec. @ f/8; ISO 400

Last Sunday afternoon I was sitting quietly in our family room watching a baseball game on television.  At first I didn't notice anything unusual outside, but then something caught the corner of my eye to my right.  I looked out my patio door and saw three immature Cooper's Hawks! Two were perched on my deck railing and one was lying down on the cover to my gas grill.

(click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 MKII, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 80mm; 1/125th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

Being a very unusual sight, immediately I thought I needed to photograph the three raptors but how do I photograph them as close as possible without scaring them off?  My mobile phone was sitting next to me on the table so I grabbed it, rose up out of my chair and very, very slowly walked over to the patio door.  I activated the camera and made a few images.  However, I was photographing through a screen door and the resulting images clearly showed the screen.

(click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 MKII, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 100mm; 1/50th sec. @ f/8; ISO 200

Then it hit me!  What in the world was I doing photographing these raptors with a phone when I have superb cameras within 30 ft. of where I was standing?  I backed off, retrieved my Fuji X-T2 equipped with the 16-55mm f/2.8 lens and eased over to the kitchen window on the opposite side of the birds, again, trying to get as close as I could without scaring them.  I made several images of the three of them then thought that I would like to make some images that were even closer.  I retreated, grabbed my Olympus E-M1 MKII euqipped with the 12-100mm f/4 lens and moved back to the window.  I made several more images of them, taking advantage of the 100mm focal length.

(click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 MKII, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 100mm; 1/80th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

As I observed them, one would fly off then return.  It did that several times.  Then the three of them flew about 30 ft. to one of my flower/shrub beds.  There was a fourth hawk already on the ground. Now, everything changed.

100mm; 1/125th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

The three original hawks started closing in on the newest member to the group.  Two of them even chased this fourth hawk around the bushes and around the bed. It looked like the fourth hawk may have been an interloper and this dispute might have been territorial in nature. There was no "kill" around so the behavior didn't seem to be related to food.

I continued to watch the hawks go after the fourth one. They finally moved the fourth one out.  It flew away. The other three then perched on some low branches on my red maple tree nearby.

Two of the hawks returned to the top of my gas grille cover and engaged in what looked like a bit of playful behavior.  They then flew back to the tree to join the third.

After about 10-15 minutes passed with them sitting in the tree, the neighbor's dog came out and happened to spot the three hawks.  She started barking at them and the three of them flew away.

100mm;1/100th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

What a nice surprise for a hot, humid, summer, Sunday afternoon to have the opportunity to see four Cooper's Hawks together in one place.  I've never seen more than one before and that has been rare at my home.  I knew they are in the area as on occasion I see a pile of feathers in my yard as evidence of one of them grabbing another bird.

Earlier this year, I spotted six ospreys together fishing at the edge of the James River not too far from my home. Now four Cooper's Hawks.  Just the other evening, I spotted a piebald white tailed doe walking across the street near my home.  It isn't unusual for me to see one or two Bald Eagles flying high overhead as I within a couple of hundred yards of the river.  All this in a good size urban environment.  Isn't nature wonderful?  

I've included a few of the images of the hawks.  The three on the deck railing and grill cover were easy to capture.  The image of the four of them on the ground shows all of the raptors blurry as it was pretty dark under the trees in the late afternoon and the shutter speed was only 1/6th second.  I wish I would have had the camera on auto ISO so I could have frozen the motion of all four birds.  Live and learn.

The one in the middle with its back to the camera was the "interloper." (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 MKII, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 100mm; 1/13th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

All four raptors are in motion as three were attacking the one on the left (click to enlarge)
Olympus E-M1 MKII, 12-100mm f/4 lens @ 100mm; 1/6th sec. @ f/5.6; ISO 200

Luck seems to be running with me this year.  Hmmm.  How should I capitalize on it? Maybe I should buy some lottery tickets!

UPDATE:  Last evening at dinnertime I went out onto my deck and took the cover off my gas grill to grill some hamburgers.  I turned on the grill and went back inside to wait for it to get to full cooking temperature.  About 10 minutes later, when I went back out, one of the hawks was, again, sitting on the deck railing only about 4 ft. from the now 400 F grill. I opened the screen door and went outside.  It turned its head and just sat there and looked at me as I approached the front of the grill.  I was within 5 or 6 ft. from it and it didn't seem to be intimidated.  After about 15 seconds, again, the neighbor's pesky dog started barking at me and evidently scared the hawk.  He flew onto a branch of a nearby tree and sat there for another 30 minutes.  During his time sitting on the branch, I could hear him calling out regularly.  Finally, he flew away.  Again, isn't nature wonderful?

Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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