An Awesome Chance Encounter~

On Sunday morning before church, I made a quick stop at a market in Louisville. It was about 7 minutes before they were to open and so I waited in the coolness of the car. While sitting there, I kept hearing the sound of a hawk and it was really close by. I looked out the windows, but could not see it. Then at 8:00 when the market doors opened, I opened my car door, and there right at the entrance to the store was a young Cooper's Hawk. There was a concrete barrier with a stop sign on it and that had been the only thing blocking my view. Can you imagine how many snaps I could have taken in 7 minutes ;) It flew a short distance when I approached the doors. I grabbed my camera ( it is always with me ) and walked across the lane where it was under some bushes. It would run beneath the bushes sort of like a Roadrunner and then jump into the bush and then with empty talons, it would drop back down to the ground again. It did this several times without success and then flew up into a nearby tree. After that, it flew to a nearby utility pole and then finally off to another shaded area that was whispering songbird food~