Photo by Ken W. Hall

The Natural World in its balance, form, color and dynamics is ever captivating and sometimes shocking. It is always in our face by some means. This morning, halloween,  I was in the studio when the door opened and Penny entered. "There is a big bird out there, get your camera!"

Having had Penny for spotter, guide and wife for sixteen plus years I know when she follows her intuition. It was happening again. With camera in hand ready for the "safari" to the front of the house I quickly set footsteps one after the other.

Low and behold, once again she connected me with a "natural happening". Perched on a limb in our "forest" in the front yard was a bird I witnessed on more than one occasion…the most recent in a bullet like flight at a speed barely able to capture in the blink of a human eye. The feathered rocket had tracked a bird in flight and was giving terminal chase to what was soon to become a meal.

It was our resident Sharp Shinned hawk, prey in talon sitting on our front grass patiently waiting for the capture to expire which it did in a very short time. By instinct the hawk bolted into a juniper tree to feast.

Some exposures were made through the living room window but with only blurred and non recognizable resolution. Knowing full well this was a rare and sacred moment I gently turned the door knob to the outside and quietly set a initial step onto the deck. Were eye to eye and soul to soul twenty feet apart…the hawk with its natural prey and I with a fistful of technology.

As the bird continued with laser surgical precision to feather by feather and flesh by flesh shred and consume the small bird I could sense its enhanced restlessness, knowing full well flight soon was to explode and the experience would be only a fleeting memory in the ozone. With several bursts of camera clicks and whirs there were images and the explosion of the hawk with tattered remnants of prey speeding in flash into the unknown of the future.

It was finished, over and done except for the graciousness of the Creator and the restless patience of the hawk. I stood there with technology in hand and food for my soul. With these I introduce you to my world of hawks, wisdom and expansion of experience.

- Photo and words by Ken W. Hall