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Uploaded 3-Jan-08
Taken 3-Jan-08
Visitors 733
17 of 51 photos

Cooper's Hawk & prey/kill at 45% crop

I've been trying to catch the resident Cooper's Hawk (now can be confirmed) for a while, with no success. Today, while doing yard chores I heard some screaming & went to investigate & in one of my neighbor's driveways I found this hawk & its kill. Thought it was a squirrel since I had a hard time getting close & it was in a rather dark area in the shade under an oak tree. But this is some kind of bird with a longer slightly curved beak & very colorful - we now believe it to be Red-shafted Northern Flicker based on the colors; brown head/crown, gray face & chest, red mustache (so a male), red wing & tail lining & brown-barred back. This is a large prey, 11-14 inches, which I believe as it was almost as big as the Cooper's Hawk (male 15 inches & female 19 inches according to one of my books).

I'm angry with myself for deciding to use the on board flash - - I got a lot of shots, but most of them with red eyes....... Handheld with the 300mm f/4 Nikkor/Nikon lens.
NIKON CORPORATION NIKON D200, f/4 @ 300 mm, 1/250, ISO 400, Flash