The Story of how I became Obsessed with a Falcon

Between our village and the village next to ours, there lives a bird. A big bird. A big brownish bird who I get a glimpse of every now and then driving back and forth to and from our house. I see him perched in the trees by the cow fields or sometimes circling above it. I always think to myself, "Wow, I want to take your picture." I started calling him "the hawk" and I'm pretty sure my husband didn't believe me. I would always see him when I was alone. He was sneaky.

I started taking my camera in the car with me all the time in case I saw him. Then one day I did! I was driving along and suddenly around the bend there he was sitting on a fence post across the road from me. Literally 15 feet away. He flew away before I could stop and get his photo, but I knew it would be my goal. I would snap a shot of him, whatever he was before the summer was over. I became obsessed with finding him.

Finally, it happened. It was about midday and Ariana and I were coming home for lunch, when there he was. He was sitting in the field on a long stretch of road and nobody was coming either way. I quickly pulled over and whipped my camera into action. As soon as he saw what I was planning, he took to the air, but I was able to get a pretty awesome shot of him in all his glory.

I've looked him up and decided I think he's a Peregrine Falcon. And he is beautiful!

My new goal for the summer is to get more/better shots of him! And also to get some pretty photographs of the deer I sometimes see, but I'm pretty sure that's going to be MUCH harder.