Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Winter Bird

It continues warm in the West. The grass is very green. Yesterday a storm system approached the West coast producing spectacular streaks of clouds across our region at dawn in all imaginable colors. (Cheri would have loved it!)
At lunch quite a few of us noticed a big bird on a branch over Athens Creek. I rushed home and caught him on camera. He is either a Sharp Shinned or Cooper's Hawk, and was waiting for a pigeon to be served for his lunch. It is next to impossible to sort out the difference between the two as they are virtually identical, but the former is more likely as the Cooper is probably enjoying his winter holidays further South in the central USA by now.
Michael's "Artist's Impression" of the Hawk ( Accipiter striatus/cooperii)

Green Grass in Penticton. The Oak leaves hang on for nearly the whole winter.

Tree at the Hooded Merganser. Last of Christmas. All Decorations go by the sixth....

4 comments:

L. D. said...

He looks like a Cooper's Hawk but I don't recognize the name of the other bird you mentioned. You live in a beautiful area. I really like the blue color of the decorations.

FilipBlog said...

Nice painting and I love hte picture with blue.

Greetings,
Filip

H said...

I would have been excited to see your hawk too!

I love the blue of the tree. Not looking forward to dismantling ours by tomorrow!

Alan Burnett said...

A very Happy New Year Michael and Hanne. I am back after a lengthy Christmas lay-off - and what better way to come back than to your excellent photographs.