Hawk that Scared Me Silly!!!

Hawk in the Audubon II
Originally uploaded by mightyquinninwky©™

This hawk found a way to make me jump higher than I ever have. I was on the edge of the John James Audubon state park trying to get a good pic of a "Red Bellied" woodpecker, when some noise scared the bird away. I was annoyed, but decided to move a little further in and try and find a good spot to find him/her or another one. Little did I realize there was a raccoon in the tree over my shoulder, I never notice him though. The reason I knew he was there was a hawk out of the blue decided he/she was small enough for dinner. He/she dove down, hit the raccoon, and broke its neck, I had no clue what was going on and the noise was intense from this epic battle (ok it wasn't a battle, I am sure the raccoon was as aware of the hawk as I was of both of them!!). I nearly had a heart attack, I had just recently heard of a man that was hit by a bullet from a stray shot of a .22 and that was the first thing that went through my paranoid head, and the next thing was why is the hawk just sitting here eating. I guess when your hungry matters don't matter =)...anyway he stayed and let me photograph him while he had dinner and then nonchalantly flew off. Made for a very exciting day out in the wilderness, very exciting indeed!!

Friday....Yeah The Weekend!!

I am so glad its the weekend finally...its been a very hectic week. Applying to different school boards around the region and finalizing my move from Lexington. I was going to go to Lex. to finish up but with the holiday I think I might wait till after the 4th... They are having hydroplane and jet boat races on the riverfront in Evansville, IN. Its called the Freedom Festival and goes on all week. Something like of 500,000 people will visit over the weekend and week so there will be unlimited photo ops, so that might be where I go. If not I am going to the Federal Game Reserve (Higginson-Henry Game Reserve) in Union County, Kentucky to take nature photos. Either way I will have new pics for Flickr and for this blog.. So till later have a fun and safe holiday weekend!! ! Please be safe!! That goes for everyone!!

Here's some beauty....

Just so you know that I am not all about the negative...here's some beauty I recently found in my backyard and on the side of the road...The first shot is a picture of wild Chicory growing on the side of State Route 359...the coffee substitute and relative to endive that you find in your mixed green salad...Then there's the wildflower Queen Anne's Lace or Wild Carrot...yes the root is edible and the common carrot comes from this plant..also the seeds are used as herbal birth control....then you have my backyard..a bee hard at work and a butterfly working on some thistle in an open field...
Here's a link to get more info on the common chicory...
http://flickr.com/photos/mightyquinninlex/633967713/
and more info on Queen Anne's Lace/Wild Carrot...
http://flickr.com/photos/mightyquinninlex/633968181/
Have a great Friday!!!