Sometimes an interesting photo comes from just looking out your office window. In this case, a Spokesman-Review reporter pointed out the two hawks perched on one of the steeple crosses of The Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. It was a slow news day, so I grabbed a 400 mm lens out to the supply closet and walked across the street to our parking garage to shoot the photo. Later, I had a great debate with newsroom outdoorsy folks as to what breed of hawks they were. The consensus was they were Red-tailed hawks. But without being 100% sure, I didn’t want to risk a hundred calls from readers telling me what a fool and am. Been there, done that… Nikon D300 Nikkor 400 mm 2.8 lens.
Backstop Bird
I was shooting a Spokane Indians baseball game from up in the press box behind home plate. I like this spot because it gives me a clear high-angle view of all the bases. The free hot dogs are a plus too. I use a 300 mm 2.8 lens with a doubler to pull me close to the action. As I was sitting there waiting for the free hot dogs to arrive, er, something to happen, a small bird landed on the backstop net for a fleeting moment. I shot one snap–because I was bored–and It ended up being a better picture than the sports photo that ran in the newspaper.

