You hang around our backyard long enough and you come to know something’s up when the mockingbirds discard all their calls save for one that fascinatingly mimics the screeeee! of a hawk. Whether or not it’s a raccoon or a squirrel or an actual bird of prey that’s raised their alarm is unknown. All you understand is that there’s a predator too close for the mockingbirds’ comfort and they screeeeee! repeatedly until it exits.
Loose interpretation: grab the camera.
Which I did, soon after locating the subject of the mockingbirds’ intense attentions, which was on a branch directly over the hammock and as usual was pretty well backdropped against the 1:30 p.m. June gloom backlighted by the elusive sun. Three presses of the shutter release later and the raptor flew, with this shot being the best of the trio (click it for the bigger picture):
With a lack of confidence in my species ID I’m going to say Cooper’s hawk.
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Will
Will Campbell arrived in town via the maternity ward at Good Sam Hospital way back in OneNineSixFour and has never stopped calling Los Angeles home. Presently he lives in Silver Lake with his wife Susan, their cat Rocky, dogs Terra and Hazel, and a red-eared slider turtle named Mater. Blogging since 2001, Will's web endeavors extend back to 1995 with laonstage.com, a comprehensive theater site that was well received but ever-short on capital (or a business model). The pinnacle of his online success (which speaks volumes) arrived in 1997, when much to his surprise, a hobby site he'd built called VisuaL.A. was named "best website" in Los Angeles magazine's annual "Best of L.A." issue. He enjoys experiencing (and writing about) pretty much anything creative, explorational and/or adventurous, loves his ebike, is a better tennis player than he is horr golfer, and a lover of all creatures great and small -- emphasis on "all."
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