Numbers 27 & 28

An unexpected blip-gift today!  Yard birds # 27 and 28 came tearing out of the woods and I was lucky enough to be outside with my camera.  The raptor is a red-tailed hawk, and he/she is being hotly pursued by two American Crows who, I believe, are nesting somewhere back in our woods.  It is not at all unusual to see crows "mob" larger hawks like this, but I've never been fast enough with a camera to catch it.  I fired a burst so got 6 frames before the threesome were over the house and out of sight - the entire thing happened in less than 10 seconds.  A good case of right place, right time, and right camera settings.

This image is untouched - no crop, no fiddling.  It's not perfectly focused, but it's definitely blip-worthy.  

Another very blustery day with strong gusty winds.  But the sun is shining, and that's always a plus.  Hubs and I got out for a quick walk, but didn't stay out long as it was just too windy and chilly.  

Thanks for the many nice comments yesterday on the Tiny Climbers' adventures.  Several of you asked about focus stacking so, if you are interested, HERE is a link to an article/tutorial I found very helpful in learning how to do this.  It's surprisingly easy.

The Tinies had some more adventures today - turns out that they love food! Who knew?  Anyway, if you'd care to see what they've been up to, I've posted a couple of shots on Flickr starting HERE.  And, I just got notice from eBay that my efforts to purchase some companions for them has been successful!  Stay tuned...

Happy Monday, people.