One thing I love about wildlife photography is the fact that there's always a new situation out there I haven't seen before.  I've been doing this for a long time, and often get the same types of shots time and time and time again.  I mean, I can't even begin to count the number of eagles-sitting-on-a-nest shots I have.  Or eagles flying overhead in the sky.  It almost gets boring after a while, and I'm always seeking something new and different.  I mean after all, birds do other things besides perch on something or fly by!

So when I get a chance to witness some action, something different, I'm all for it!  And that's what happened yesterday up at Reelfoot Lake in Tennessee when we spotted this red tailed hawk on the ground.  We knew he had something, we just couldn't tell what it was until he tried to carry it off.

Imagine my surprise when I saw it was actually another HAWK!  This is a first for me to have seen!

I'm not even totally sure as to what kind of hawk it is.  It just shocked me it had another hawk, rather than something like a rabbit or squirrel or mole or something furry.  We were extremely far away and shooting from the car, so these shots aren't the greatest.  I was shooting with a Nikon 500mm F4 with a teleconverter, bringing it to a 700mm focal length.  And these are cropped in a good bit to show the bird a little more closely.

Of course I'll probably never do anything artistic with these photos.  I do have quite a few pieces of other hawk art in my shop, however.  Click the button below to see them!

When I look out my window and see a bird sitting there, well within my reach, I have to grab the camera and take some photos.  Especially when it's a raptor, like this juvenile Cooper's Hawk.  I'm passionate about the raptors!  

So here this bird sat, on the darkest, rainy day, which made for absolutely horrible photos.  I captured several shots, but I was drawn to this one, where he was looking up at the water droplets falling from the electrical wire above him.

Normally, I wouldn't do anything with a shot like this...but that POSE!  I loved the pose and decided to brighten him up and see if I could create some fun art.  In looking through my background collections and resources, I finally decided he needed to be in a winter scene.  So I added this colorful winter background, added some snow overlays, and I removed the wire from above, which had now becoming distracting.  Now it appears as if he was watching the snow fall!

I love being able to take my birds from one scene to another.  And doing so gives me a use for the "horrible photos", which I get plenty of, often thanks to low light situations.  When photographing from home like I do often, I also get many of the same shots over and over, because there's only so many things around here for the birds to land on, like this wire.  By using different backgrounds to spruce things up, I can create several different looks for my birds, even if they land on the same wire over and over again.

I'm happy to see this bird has started visiting.  He was back the next day hopping all over my fence, as well, and I have a feeling he has chosen my yard for his wintering spot.  I usually get one of these hawks a year who "moves in", and they are always a delight to watch.  Not so delightful for my songbirds, of course, as they know they could be his next meal if they're not careful!

If you would love to add this winter bird scene to your collection of wildlife art, just click the button below. 

Note:  This art was created with the help of the Winter 1 Background Collection with snow overlays, available here.