Sketchbook: Cooper's Hawk

This weekend the chickens were picking through some freshly tossed kitchen scraps just outside their coop when a cooper's hawk swooped out of the large pecan tree and perched atop a nearby fence post.  The hens scrambled back inside, excited but safe.  The hawk glided down into the grass and briefly inspected the chickens' treats before taking off back into the tree line.
Cooper's Hawks are beautiful birds with slate gray feathers on their head and wings, and a red barred pattern on their breasts and bellies.  Though often confused with the slightly smaller Sharp-shinned Hawk, our visitor was on the larger side.
Our chickens have been truly free range at the new place over a month now, and this was the closest we've come to losing one via predation or otherwise. As egg production begins to pick up after the stress of moving we hope to have eggs for sale again soon.

Sketchbook: Great Blue Heron

I painted this Great Blue Heron several months after we first moved down to the farm. The construction process for our own home was going much slower than planned thanks in large part to several layers of bureaucratic red tape required by the county.  On a particularly aggravating morning I stepped outside to get some fresh air and clear my head.  As I leaned against the pasture fence in the golden morning light I saw the silhouette of a Great Blue Heron still as a statue in the shallow waters of a nearby pond.  Quick as death, the heron's long neck snapped the sharp beak into the water and pulled out a small frog.  The bird shook its head violently as it strode to shore to quickly swallow the frog whole.  I watched the display as quietly as I could for as long as I could, but when it finally took to the sky with several flaps of its great wings, it flew directly overhead low enough that I could see individual feathers on its wings and belly.  It was an important moment for me, and one I revisited often.  It would all be worth it for a lifetime full of moments like that for me and my family.  All that was required was a little patience.