Found food

February 8, 2005. Cold day. Any bit of found food was welcome.

There was a lady who worked on the West Side. Each day around lunch time she came to the same spot up on the rocks with raw chicken breast which she tied to tree branches. "I just want to make it easier for the young hawks". I didn't know what to say. I knew this wasn't right, but while I was thinking about what to say a hawk flew right by my head and landed on same branch. Lunch!

I only saw this food delivery that one winter. How did the hawk know this was raw chicken? Would they then acquire a taste for hot dogs? This is no way to hone hunting skills, but these are urban hawks. What's worse, chicken from the butcher or poison rats?

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Still looking back

February 7, 2005. Time to build a nest.

Back and forth, back and forth, grab those leaves, scurry scurry.

Cozy nest.

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It is winter

All of these images pre-date the digital era. I walked the park with a dinky Contax and a dinkier Tamron zoom. A diffusion filter was used all the time, my impressionistic period. It was possible to do multiple exposure images with this camera (the skaters) and it was possible to get soft focus to my total delight. The same gear got used at work to the astonishment of some of my colleagues who delighted in poo-pooing what I was using, but this dirt cheap gear earned me more than the high end gear because it got used for record jacket covers. Moral: use whatever equipment will give you the images you want. The photographer has to be the boss, not the camera.

Iced tea??

Now, manipulations are done in the computer. Pre-digital impressionism was done in the photographer's head and then in the camera. I prefer the former. _______________________________________

Hunting skills

February 6, 2005. Time to look for food. From above.

Better hunting from the ground. Maybe.

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Sunny cold

February 6, 2005. Cold and active.
Does prey look better upside down?

Redbelly woodpecker really has a redbelly.

Squirrel found and ate a whole pear.

" I can't believe I ate the whole thing."

Does this just warm your heart??

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Cold!

February 5, 2005, cold, but not as intensely cold as today.

Still alive.

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More backward

More January 2005. Snow on ground. Winter quality light. Predictable behavior. Maybe some of the hawks will be identifiable.

Frozen food?

How can cold metal be so nurturing?

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