I have the hardest time identifying a Cooper’s hawk from a sharp-shinned hawk. With this bird, I was leaning toward Cooper’s hawk because it seemed pretty big, but I know a female sharpie can look as big as a male Cooper’s hawk. So, I sent this photo to my friend, Judd, who is an expert in identifying hawks, and he said it was a Cooper’s hawk. Thus, the title here is “Cooper’s Hawk,” not “Sharp-shinned Hawk.”
This female cheetah begins a hunt. She was successful in catching a gazelle right after this photo was taken. She has one cub left to care for. The others were killed by lions.
This is a view of the driveway leading to an historic building that was used by RCA long ago to communicate with ships in the Pacific. It’s somewhat famous for the cypress trees along the driveway because they form a tunnel leading to the old building. When I drive by this spot there are usually one or more people standing there taking photos. As a person who is primarily a wildlife photographer, I’ve driven by there hundreds of times in the past 15 years and never stopped to photograph the tunnel. Recently, I decided I ought to do that some time. A month ago I was driving by and no one was there. So, I stopped and took a few quick held-held “snapshots” with a not-ideal 100-500 mm lens (at 100 mm) just to be able to look at some photos at home to see if I should bother to go back for some more serious photos with a wider angle lens on a tripod, at sunset. Maybe HDR. I’m surprised that the photos, like the one above, were fairly good. That makes me want to go back and try for better results.
I spotted this male bobcat just before sunset. He was kind enough to give me eight minutes of his time before he wandered off. I was hoping he’d stay until the sun had set, maybe even give me a little blue hour time, but any time I get with a bobcat is a blessing.