Morning Watch ...

 “Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

             ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

             ~ 1803 ~ 1882

Regal Red-Tailed Hawk peers from a high perch, gazing over the winter landscape in search of prey against a brilliant blue sky in the sunshine of a mid-February morning at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

This bird of prey is the most common hawk in North America.

Red-Tailed & Autumn Prey ...

“Nature can seem cruel, but she balances her books.”

  ~ Alison Lurie

~Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist

             ~ 1926 ~ 2020

I love nature, but it can be cruel, such as in seeing this red-tailed hawk and its prey – a squirrel – on a mid-November evening at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I was lucky enough to capture several shots of the hawk as it guarded its prey – though I felt so sorry for the squirrel!

 

Red-Tailed And Prey ...

“Nature can seem cruel, but she balances her books.”

      ~ Alison Lurie

~Pulitzer Prize winning American novelist

        ~ born 1926 

I love nature, but it can be cruel, such as in seeing this red-tailed hawk and its prey – a squirrel – on an early September evening in the waning summer at Trexler Memorial Park, Allentown, Pennsylvania.

I was lucky enough to capture several shots of the hawk as it had its supper – though I felt so sorry for the squirrel! This was the last photo I snapped, the only one where the hawk looked up and straight at me, as if to say don’t come near my prey!

                  

 

Young Dreams ...

“Dream no small dreams.”

    ~ Victor Hugo

   ~ 1802-1885

A beautiful Juvenile Red-Tailed Hawk casts its eye across the landscape from a high perch on a late September afternoon kissed by the autumn sun on the Kittatinny Ridge, also called Blue Mountain, along the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor (D&L Trail) at Lehigh Gap, Slatington, Pennsylvania.

The Lehigh Gap is a crossroads where the Lehigh Gap Nature Center’s trails connect two historic trails – the Appalachian Trail and the D&L Trail.

The Appalachian Trail, a foot path, follows the ridge on both sides of the Lehigh Gap, running 1,245 miles south to Georgia and 930 miles north to Maine. Running from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, the D&L Trail passes through the Lehigh and Delaware rivers and their canals in Pennsylvania.

Background texture by Jai Johnson added for artistic effect.