Monday Morning Raptors

Where are all of the little birds?  A nice chilly morning gave Ann and I the idea to go birding around the local parks.  For some unknown reason it seemed that all of the birds had disappeared.  Maybe they know something we don’t know.  Anyway, we first made a stop at San Angelo State Park bird blind.  We saw doves, sparrows, and then to our surprise did appear a Sharp-shinned Hawk.  It zipped in, perched on an old oil drum at the back of the property for about ten seconds, then zipped off again.  During that ten seconds I was able to rip off about three exposures.  Luck was with me and I got this excellent pose.

Sharp-shinned Hawk

We then made our way out towards the parks around Lake Nasworthy.  A mile or two before the entrance to Middle Concho Park, we saw this Osprey perched on a mesquite branch over a small wetland.

Osprey

In the park proper, we saw a juvenile (I think) Red-tailed Hawk just sitting pretty on another tree branch.  I wheeled our car into position and got a nice portrait that you see here.

Red-tailed Hawk

All in all, not a bad haul photographically, but a bad day for birding.  Again, where have all the birds gone?