ML618028369

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

Two birds flew directly in front of me, screaming like banshees. At first I thought two red winged blackbirds as they seemed similar in size, but then I realized that one was brownish and just a little bigger than the other. The hawk pinned the blackbird against the base of a tree, blackbird shrieking-but then the prey won out! The tree was raised out of the water with roots almost like stilts-the bb wiggled under the tree and flew out, via the roots, making a narrow escape. The sharpie (which I’d ID’d at this point, based on its tiny size) flew to a tree branch, no doubt annoyed that it missed what seemed like a sure meal. I stood rooted to the spot, amazed at what I was seeing. The ruckus was so loud that the sleeping, nesting swan looked over to see what was happening. When it was done I noticed that the mallard I’d spied, just before this all happened, was still there, staring at where it had all gone down. He didn’t move, probably as shocked as I was at the close proximity of all this excitement. I actually took a photo of him in this state lol.

Technical information

Model

COOLPIX P950

ISO

800

Focal length

357 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/6.5

Shutter speed

1/125 sec

Dimensions

1731 pixels x 2395 pixels

Original file size

1.11 MB