Though the thermometer might not know it or show it yet, and though we still have, in places, over 3 feet of snow in the yard, it is spring in Southern Maine. The angle of the sun, and the length of the day can not be disguised. Certainly birds, if a bit late, are trickling back through New England. I saw my first Turkey Vulture last week, and, more than any Robin, the Turkey Vulture is the sure sign of spring in Maine. Sorry…but it is true. The TV is the first of the big raptors to return, and I was not surprised to see a Red-tailed Hawk out over the marsh on the Mousam on Saturday and a Red-shouldered beside the interstate in New Hampshire on Sunday, just below the Maine border. The raptors of summer are coming. Sure as sunrise creeps earlier and sunset later day by day.

This series of a  Red-tailed Hawk in flight was taken with the Olympus OM-D E-M10 and 75-300mm zoom at 600mm equivalent. I have a flight shot setting programed into my E-M10 and set on one of the programmable function buttons so I can switch to it instantly at need. The individual panels are heavy crops even at 600mm, and it was not good light…but still.

Processed in Snapseed on the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 2014. Collage assembled in Pixlar Express.