On this New Year's Day myself and friends are looking at old photos and reminiscing. Here are a couple old photos that surely fit the random category.

The first photo is of an adult Cooper's hawk visiting its nest in early March. Forgive the poor quality, it was taken with an inexpensive camera with one side of a pair of binoculars held against the objective lens.

The second photo is an eyass Cooper's from the same site. The eyass was taken in 1969, and as far as I know is the first eyass Cooper's hawk taken in Missouri.

This was the time period when most raptor populations were at low ebb due to the effects of DDT. These birds had been declared extinct as a breeding species in the state about 4 years earlier.

Dahlke Meramec Cooper's 1969.jpg Dahlke tiercel Cooper's 1969.jpg