Máistir Nádúraí: Cooper's Portraits

12.24.2006

Cooper's Portraits

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A gorgeous Cooper's Hawk hunted in our backyard this afternoon. It cornered a House Sparrow beneath our garden hose storage compartment for several minutes, but came up empty after the sparrow made an amazing dash for cover under our deck. Still optimistic, the hawk perched on the deck railing for a while and watched, but the sparrow wasn't about to give up its hiding spot. Eventually the Cooper's lost interest and flew to our neighbor's yard. I managed to capture these close-up portraits of the hawk by poking my spotting scope & camera out our patio window.

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When the Cooper’s Hawk wasn’t around, other birds in our backyard included:

Hairy Woodpecker -1
Downy Woodpecker -1
Dark-eyed Junco - 10+
House Finch - 2
American Goldfinch - 4
Red-breasted Nuthatch - 2
White-breasted Nuthatch - 3
Black-capped Chickadee - 2
Mourning Dove - 1
Northern Cardinal - 2
American Crow - 2
Blue Jay - 5

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Bio:

Mike McDowell has been documenting southern Wisconsin’s flora and fauna since 1987 and began leading field trips in 2002. Prolific at Pheasant Branch Conservancy, other highlighted natural areas include Pope Farm Conservancy, Spring Green Preserve, and the Baraboo Hills. His nature photography has appeared in various publications, newspapers, magazines and was even featured on a Wisconsin Endangered Resources license plate, a Capital Brewery beer label, and a National Geographic publication. He began journaling nature observations on this blog in 2005. He's the recipient of the 2012 Bronze Passenger Pigeon Award from the Wisconsin Society for Ornithology, presented to individuals who have made outstanding contributions in their local communities or state to promote the field of ornithology. He was a finalist in Swarovski’s Digiscoper of the Year photography contest several times. His other interests include insect macro-photography (especially tiger beetles, treehoppers, and robber flies), fossil collecting, amateur astronomy, botany, natural history, and marksmanship with long-range rifles. Once a gigging musician, collecting Fender Stratocasters is a recently revived interest—most prized being a 1957 Vintage Custom Shop 'Mary Kaye' White Blonde. A former IT Professional, he's spent the last 24 years employed in the sport optics industry.