Arrgh...missed a great picture!

[nofearengineer]

I'm sure some of the photogs on the board will agree...there is nothing worse than seeing something rare, and not being able to get a picture of it quickly enough!

I was sitting on the couch yesterday, when I noticed a large bird swoop in and land on the end of a broken branch on one of the big trees that hang over my back yard.

At first, I didn't think a lot about it, but then I noticed the unusual coloring. Unlike the red-tailed, broad-winged, and sharp-shinned hawks that hang around my neck of the woods, this bird had a long, skinny tail, and a blue-grey color. It was definitely a raptor, so I jumped up to grab my camera. Unfortunately, it must have seen me in the window, and it took off. I tried to snap some picks of it flying off, but all I got was blurry trees (my camera was still on auto-focus from the hummingbirds a while back).

I hurriedly looked up raptors for Southern Indiana and found out it was a Northern Goshawk...very rare for Indiana...much less Southern Indiana.

It looked just like this:

Can you say DOH!?!?!

I'm definitely going to keep my camera with me at all times for the next few weeks. One in a million shot probably, but I'd love to have my own picture of this awesome bird.