Bird Watching: DAILY BIRD PICS VOL. 410, 0 by VA_Wild_Rose

VA_Wild_Rose wrote:
My close encounter with a hawk...

A few evenings ago, I was at my "secret pond" location. My Green Heron kids had already fledged, and I wasn't getting any shots of them around the pond. I was taking pics of dragonflies, and had walked back one last time to the GH nesting tree to see if they would return there to roost. I saw a bird in the tree, and was trying to get a closer look when something flew in from my left and hit the bird on the limb! There was a splash, and I was thinking that two GHs just hit the water. I moved a few feet to my right to get a better look... and this guy landed on the bank at my feet, not more than eight feet away! He was stunned... I was stunned! I managed to get this one shot before he flew off (full frame). I did manage to see that the bird he had in his talons was too small to be a Greenie. A few minutes later, I spotted an Eastern Kingbird calling and calling in distress from the top of a tree nearby. I think she lost her mate, or an offspring in the encounter. ID'd as a Cooper's Hawk.