Uh Oh

I had just put my coat, gloves and scarf on in preparation for going outside to see if I could land a shot for the day...when I realized there were no little birds at the feeders.  And that can only mean one thing on a cold day like this...sure enough, as I peered out the window, a Cooper's Hawk lifted off the snow and flew off into the woods.  With no hawk in sight, I gimped outside and positioned myself in a spot where the light would be advantageous and waited... Sure enough, along came some chickadees and a rather adorable Titmouse.  And then the Coop strafed back through the yard and landed in absolutely horrid light, behind me and up high.  Undaunted, I snapped a few shots.  The hawk was keeping a sharp eye on the brush below, from where a group of chickadees were sounding the alarm call.  Eventually, the hawk left again, hopefully to find a meal.  So, what you have is a rather bad photo but still my pick for the day and my visual record of YardBird # 7 for this year.  If I get a better shot later in the year, I'll untag this one, but for now, it's my shot.

Gym today where I did 1 mile on the treadmill and 1 mile on the elliptical.  The latter was really to get my heart rate up since I can't get enough speed or incline on the treadmill at the moment.  Felt good.  Soaked my foot when I got home and keeping it elevated for a while.  All good.  

Talked to Mom and Dad this morning.  They arrived in Arizona a couple of days ago and are spending a few days in Tucson before heading over to Yuma for a big geo caching event.  They sounded in good spirits and are enjoying a break from the damp Oregon winter.

Thanks for stopping by!

xo
Debbi

PS: I always struggle differentiating between Sharp shinned and Coopers hawks, but in this case I am pretty confident in my id.  A couple of the distinguishing marks are the eyes being fairly close to the front of the head and the tail being rounded.  You can only see the latter field mark on a perched bird when it is facing you, as this one is, so you can see the shorter tail feathers tucked in.