While photographing a senior and her family this week (images coming soon), this beautiful visitor planted himself just a few feet from the area where I wanted to shoot my subjects.
Perched on a large pile of yard rubbish, I could see his head and shoulders, but his lower half was hidden from view.
I was reluctant to disturb him, but the light was changing quickly so the family and I headed over to our perfect photo-op spot. The hawk, of course, flew away, but only up into an nearby tree where he sat trustingly as though he didn't want to leave the area.
We were getting everyone all positioned and posed when I looked over at the location where the hawk had first been perched on the rubbish pile. My heart sank when I saw that our intrusion had interrupted our feathered friend's meal. For draped across the heap was a beautiful (partially consumed) black racer snake.
I went back to photographing but realized I was rushing the shoot. I kept thinking of the poor little guy sitting up in the tree behind me, eye on his hard earned meal and waiting for us to leave. Finally, I couldn't stand it any longer. I apologized to my clients but explained that I was about to potentially gross them out considerably. Then I walked over, grabbed the snake and tossed it over to the hungry hawk. It only took a few minutes for the beautiful bird to reunite with its prey. Then it flew off into the sky with nearly 3 feet of reptile hanging from its talons.
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