An Arctic Ambassador
After 3 days of rain, snow, and intense wind, as the sun tried to break through the light veil of clouds I was interested in what might have ‘blown in’ on the windless Sunday afternoon. Just a half-mile south of my office, even before reaching ice-covered Melody’s Marsh I could see a hawk perched atop a lone cottonwood along the road – likely a Rough-legged Hawk fresh from the Arctic. You never know how a bird will react as you approach it, but this colorful raptor’s attention was focused in the opposite direction, so I slipped into the best location to take advantage of the afternoon sunlight, which was filtered by an ever-changing veil of light clouds.
This Arctic hawk proved to be one of those remarkable birds we all hope for when we encounter a bird with photographic potential – an individual that I like to call a “species ambassador” – a bird that allows you to spend time with it and photograph at will, as though you were invisible. In reality though, the hawk was accepting a white van with a zoom lens poking out of an open window. The van was obviously larger than a person, but less concerning than me standing in the same position.
