On this day I officially released my first album of original instrumental music – inspired by my experiences with this family of Swainson’s hawks in 2017. The album is called “Hawkish 2.0”. There are 6 songs: Look Up | Flight | Wings | Hawkish | Mother Earth | Freedom.

You can buy the album here, or listen on SoundCloud.

Even with all of the excitement from last year’s surprise encounters with the young hawks, I admit that I didn’t know what to expect this time ’round. I saw the adults in the area back in May and early July but it wasn’t until August 7th that we saw the first baby – shot with a Canon PowerShot SX240 HS in bad lighting.

Every now and then you capture an image that puts a grin on your face.

One of the better shots I got with the point & shoot Canon PowerShot. Baby has feathers in their mouth and a feather sticking up on their head. We have dubbed them “Spike”, paying homage to the spiky feather.

Even after switching to my Canon T2i DSLR with its 55-250mm kit lens (from the little Canon point & shoot), I was hating the quality of the photos of these hawks. I needed something better. Not a new camera necessarily but a new lens: the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary telephoto lens.

Game. Changed.

I was so delighted to see these majestic young raptors in such detail. Now I know just how mean Mama hawk looks, too.

I’m starting to like this hawk-watching business (especially the little ones).

Spike was out exploring in the grassy area. Oh neat, I thought, I’ll go over there and take some pictures. Well wouldn’t you know it, Mama and Papa were not having any of it and they both chased me back home. They didn’t leave right away either. Papa was on one pole, Mama on the other. OK fine, I’ll go inside, sheesh!

One of the last photos I got of a baby hawk in 2018. There were at least a dozen magpies in the grass hanging around with the hawk. No animosity, just walking around enjoying the day.