Resting?

"Resting?" 

Judy Royal Glenn Photography 

There are nice wooden benches located throughout the State Botanical Garden of Georgia for resting and enjoying the beauty of the garden. This hawk found one to perch on.  

Location: Athens, Georgia 

Winging It

"Winging It" 

Judy Royal Glenn Photography 

I got a new camera recently. Within about five minutes of having my camera, my husband noticed a hawk fly by in front of our house. He said its wingspan was huge.

He told me where it flew, and I headed down the street to find it. The hawk was perched in my neighbors tree. 

I began to take photos of him, but my new camera was a little different than my other one. I did not know how to change the dials yet, so I just winged it.

I went back to my neighbor's house and measured how tall the hawk was compared to the markings on the tree near his head. He was 14 inches tall from his feet to his head! 

Show-off

"Show-off"

Judy Royal Glenn Photography

I enjoyed teaching my class "Where do the hummingbirds 'hide' at the Botanical Garden" this past Saturday morning.  I reminded the attendees about photographing the "in-betweens" .....the wildlife at the garden we can photograph while waiting for the hummers.  One of the photographs I showed them during the presentation was of the Red-tailed hawk.  

After the class, we headed to the Hummingbird Trail to find the hummingbirds. We found them, but the highlight for us all was probably the resident hawk that had to show off to the group and let us photograph him up close while he was on the trellis.  

Location:  Athens, Georgia

Resident Hawk

"Resident Hawk" 

Judy Royal Glenn Photography 

This hawk lives at the State Botanical Garden of Georgia and is not bothered at all by humans.  I know several people that have photographed him from very short distances.

He has several perches where he loves to hang out, and I knew just where to look for him this morning.  As I was walking down a path near one of his favorite perches, he flew overhead to a  large patch of very tall grass and attempted to pounce on something.  I hurried closer, and he sprung up in the air and pounced once more.  Whatever he was after, he did not get because he flew up to his perch in the tree.  He sat there undisturbed as I took my photographs!  He did not want to disappoint!

Piercing

"Piercing"

Judy Royal Glenn Photography

I would love to say I went deep into the woods and got this clear shot of the Red-tailed Hawk, but the shot was made easy for me.  My family went to Callaway Gardens and watched the Birds of Prey show.  It was great and enabled me to capture this shot.  I love it's piercing eyes!