It was such a surprise to see a Great Horned Owl in our birdbath the past few mornings. We thought it was the Red-tailed Hawk that lives nearby but we were mistaken this time!
We get up each morning early and look out our sliding glass door to the birdbath. Sometimes we see the hawk splashing away. We thought this was the hawk again. Phil got the camera and hid behind the wall and clicked away at the birdbath, without looking out the window. I sneaked into the other room to catch a glimpse of him without him seeing me. He flies away if he sees us now.
As I peeked out the window, this huge bird’s head rotated 180 degrees and looked right at me. Hmmm. I didn’t know hawks could turn their heads completely around?! A couple of minutes later he flew right by the window up into the tree and…. he had feathers all over his legs and feet. I didn’t know that hawks had feathers on their legs and feet?!
I went into our bedroom and got the camera and started looking at the photographs that Phil took. It was a Great Horned Owl! Unbelievable! He’s been by for an early morning bath for the past 3 mornings! What a treat!!
We brought the photographs down to Mike at the Birdwatcher’s General Store and he couldn’t believe it! Wow!
It was a gorgeous day at Coast Guard Beach in Eastham on Cape Cod on the National Seashore. And it was just voted one of the Top 10 beaches in the USA! Wow!
The lifeguards were ready and the beach was crowded. You can see the purple Shark flag is up as there have been many shark sightings in the area lately.
Soon school will be back in session and the Lifeguard stand will be put way for the winter.
I haven’t seen very many butterflies this summer to photograph here on Cape Cod. There have been some very pretty ones but they never alight on a flower to take a picture.
Phil and I were talking the other day about photographing these elusive butterflies. First you have to see a butterfly, then you have to follow it, then it has to land on something and then you have to be ready to take that quick photograph before it flies away again. Chances of all of these things going right are not that easy.
Thus…the elusive butterfly photograph.
This Little Copper butterfly landed on one of the Daisies in my yard and proceded take make a full circle on the flower. It was perfect. I got every angle imaginable. Only problem was, I only had my phone, not my camera. And my phone does not take a macro as well as my camera.
We took a walk on Coast Guard Beach in Eastham down to Nauset Spit and saw what was a huge “island of seals” not far off of the beach. There were hundreds of them. We had seen a few seals here and there along the coast but never this many. No wonder the Great White Sharks like to come nearby waters to feast.
There must be a sandbar where they all congregate. It was low tide when we took our walk…I wonder if they are still there at high tide?
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
