photomania

Salem and I had a wonderful walk in the park this morning - the weather is perfect (IMO). Cool, crisp with a piercing blue sky. I took this photo of a tree with its bouquet of yellow leaves and passed it through photomania, using a painterly effect of some kind.

Had a close encounter with a cooper's hawk (I think that's what it was)... we were walking up a path close to a weedy area (lots of dry queen ann's lace etc) where a flock of pigeons hangs out (on the ground). Two big black crows harried a hawk as it came in to pick off one of the pigeons. Are the crows protecting their own food source? I don't think crows go for live birds... have no clue as to why they would be protecting them from a hawk. But it was cool to have it fly in so close to where I was standing with Salem. It flew up into the branches of a nearby tree and the crows stayed nearby, cawing up a storm.