Close Encounter With A Hawk

As I approached the boardwalk that led up to the East Bay observation deck at Lake Conestee Nature Preserve in SC, probably 20 feet from where I stood at the edge of the boardwalk was this magnificent hawk, devouring what was left of a very large crawfish.

I froze in my tracks.

He looked up in my direction. At this point my camera was still hanging beside me, with my hand loosely on the grip. This wasn’t going to last more than a few seconds, and he would be gone.

I slowly lifted my camera to my eyes, expecting the magnificent creature to disappear in a flurry of flapping wings.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, he just ignored me and continued with breakfast.