A bird that isn't afraid of me..

Last week I was fortunate enough to get a photo of one of the Red Shouldered Hawks that Live in the tiny patch of woods in my back yard. It was really refreshing to take a picture of a bird that wouldn't fly off at the slightest noise. In fact I swear this guy glared at me when I leaned up against the window too hard and made a loud THUNK sound.

Our house sits on land that was cow pasture for decades. I am finding all kinds of birds here that normally don't live in a suburban habitat. I have seen in the last year: Blue Herons, Red Winged Cow birds, Indigo Buntings, White Crested Night heron (Only from afar), Green Heron, Hummingbirds, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds and the various common birds that everyone sees like Starlings, Robins, Blue Jays, Blue Birds. etc..

Ever since my husband bought my first Digital SLR Camera last year I've been trying in vain to get a few of those amazing wildlife pictures that folks see in National Geographic. I've been reading and reading and reading and come to the unfortunate truth: In Digital SLR Photography, your camera doesn't matter as much as your lens. A really good lens costs $1600. Thats one of the ones that I'm using but it only zooms to 200mm which is why the hawk above still appears a bit fuzzy.

I really need the 100-400mm zoom which is another $1600. Hopefully next year, if I can find another job when munchkin goes into daycare I will be able to afford another very expensive lens.

On the "SITS" blog friday, they were doing "Open Letters" to whomever they chose. It was really fun reading them all. I contemplated doing an open letter to canon, explaining to them that I want really good pictures but I really don't want to pay the $1600 to buy another great lens. I was too tired friday and too busy this weekend, so that one sentence above will have to suffice..

This week is Thanksgiving and I'm going to be uber busy cleaning the house and then working myself up into a panic attack for Thursday. (my first time to make thanksgiving dinner) So I may not post every day this week. I apologize for that but I'll be back next week with more Blather..

I'm hoping against hope to go to Churchill Downs either Friday or Saturday because this coming sunday is the last day of their fall meet. Hopefully hubby will go along with my evil plan.. wonder if he reads this.............?

As Always, if you see a photo that you think you'd like a print of, you can probably find it on my website: http://www.abounaderphoto.com If you don't see what you're looking for, drop me an email at heather@abounaderphoto.com and I'll find it for you.