Red Shouldered Hawk
I'm standing on my deck with the camera, hoping the Osprey will come back and dive into the lake in front of me, when I hear this series of animal shriek/answer calls from the yard next to us. A few minutes later two hawks come flying into our yard from that direction, just below the level of the deck (the deck is 1 floor up from ground level). One flies off towards the lake and other neighbor, the other flies up and lands on the post of the deck railing about 8 feet from where I'm standing! It was incredible!
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I actually took probably 6 - 10 pictures - this was the best of the bunch. It helps that I was out there with the intention of taking pictures so the lens cap was off and the camera was on. The aperture was set (not sure to what - my husband had set it) and the shutter speed was on auto. The camera wasn't up to my eye but I was holding it in a way that was prepped to move it there easily. Had that not been the case, there is a good chance I would have startled it when I moved the camera to take the picture because it would have involved much more movement on my part.
It stood on the post for a few minutes and did not seem to be aware that I was there. As it was looking around it seemed to look straight at me but I could tell its eyes were not focused on me (I was that close to it!).
I kept thinking "OMG I can't believe this is happening" and "I don't have my phone on me to tell my husband to come look out the window!" 
