Road Trip Raptors

WWII Memorial a-la iPhone panorama

     I love a good scenic road trip. Last weekend took us down to Virginia, right outside of D.C. in Alexandria. We had a family get together with cousins who wanted to just throw a celebration at their  new home as well as celebrate the fact that they will be welcoming a new member to their family very soon! It was lovely to be with family and I had a lot of fun. The day was gorgeous so we spent the afternoon outside eating food, playing corn hole, and keeping the niece and nephews entertained (this usually involves lots of peek-a-boo, running and seeing how out of shape I am, and having the most ridiculous of conversations - Bill Cosby was right, kids say some hilarious things!
     The trip down entailed driving down I-95 from NY to VA. Turkey vultures were everywhere, I love seeing them, and tons of red-tailed hawks either flying or perched up on roadside trees. Even when we arrived at our party, I was distracted by low flying hawks, I have self diagnosed avian ADD. I see a bird and my attention is away from whatever I was doing before the bird made its appearance.
     The next day we had the chance to spend some time in Washington D.C. It was an overcast day, but thankfully the rain stayed away. We had the chance to walk around the National Mall, up to the Washington Monument and the WWII memorial, which was absolutely gorgeous, looking down towards Lincoln Memorial. We even spied some early cherry blossom blooms!

Cherry Blossoms start to bloom in front of the Washington Monument

     On our walk back, we decided to go past the White House and wave "Hi" to the Obamas. I had to steal the camera from my husband because, like I said, I have avian ADD and I am always on the lookout for nature, I spotted a red-tail being chased by a crow. The hawk had nothing in it's talons so the crow was probably just annoyed by the fact that a hawk was in the area. I grabbed three shots and two of those are okay. Overcast days result in silhouette-like flight shots. I love hawks and crows, they are not super well appreciated but I hope that I can help with that!

A red-tail hawk pretending that it is minding its own business....

The crow on the right is so not cool with the hawk being in the area. Crows and members of the corvid (crow family - which includes blue jays) family are super intelligent. I have a lot of respect for them because they make the not-so-nice name calling of "bird brain" seem like a most wonderful compliment!