What are YOU looking at?

Nothing says "What the hell are all these people doing?" better than this guy's expression. But all he could do was glower at us since he was tethered to his perch. Even if he wasn't, he can't fly. He was one of a group of birds who had been rescued after having been shot or hit by cars. Their lives were saved, but the vet had to break the news as gently as he could "You will never fly again".  They don't understand English though, so the Red Hawk made a break for it, getting loose from his tether and leading the Audubon handlers on a chase through the bushes.

I had a chance to photograph these birds relatively closely as part of "Raptor Weekend" at the Powder Mill Ledges Wildlife Refuge.
I went to get reference photos for my next series of paintings since I'm interested in owls, especially screech owls, which hang around my house. Screech owls always look to me like they just rolled out of bed, and the one they brought out was molting, so was even more disheveled looking than usual.

I somehow knew I'd be out-cameraed by the "real photographers", and I certainly was with my little G9 point and shoot and no tripod. But I got some great photos anyway.