Cooper's Hawk

A few weeks ago, the girls and I saw a hawk in a tree just in front of the house.  I tried to get a picture of it, but apparently the mighty hawk is a bit camera shy.  I had barely raised the camera to my eye when it took flight.  Sadly, I was not able to get my camera settings correct before the hawk was gone.  Last week, my second oldest went out front to play, and the she quickly came scampering back into the house to breathlessly tell me that the hawk was back.  I snatched my camera off the table, asked the girls to stay in the house and watch their brother while I tried to snap a few pictures.  Since I remember how shy the hawk is, I took the pictures through the branches of some trees that were by my house.  After looking at the pictures, we discovered our local hawk is a Cooper's Hawk.







And this is what awaited me when I finished taking pictures. I love them!