Bird Watching: Most Disappointing Shot Vol.5, 1 by eastjack

eastjack wrote:
These poor pictures resulted from a sad story. We have been getting a number of ring neck pheasants feeding on the ground under our bird feeders sometimes as many as 6 at a time. On valentines day while clearing snow after the blowing snow of the 13th, I found a dead female pheasant near my equipment shed. It was obvious what had happened as feathers were stuck to the shed wall and the white vinyl siding was split. She must have been startled from the feeders and flown into the shed during the white out conditions.
Anyway I carried the body down to the brush at the bottom of my yard about 75 yards from the house and threw it in. It did not take long for the crows to find the body and we watched them eat for a while. The next time we looked there was a red tailed hawk at the body and a raven circling above. These two went into competition and we enjoyed the sight of them circling around the yard and trying to intimidate each other. In the end the hawk won and returned to feed. The pictures are my futile attempt to photograph these two through the window at extreme range for my 10X zoom. Here are a couple of examples heavily cropped and grainy.