After 3 seasons of photographing plants and wildlife with a little point and shoot camera, I’ve upgraded a wee bit to a Panasonic Lumix FZ1000, a bridge camera that gives me zoom up to 400mm. I wandered out to the Sam Smith Park this morning to test it out.

There is a mind-bending array of menu items on this camera, some of which leave me scratching my head, but the basic functions are pretty straight-forward.

Towards the end of my walk I saw a fellow with a camera with no zoom. He pointed out a small hawk, perhaps a Cooper’s hawk, not far from where we were standing. At this point I had put my camera back into its bag and was heading back. By the time I got my camera out, the hawk left its perch and swooped down into some meadow for a buffet lunch. I’m hoping next time I’m in there, I see this hawk again and manage to snap a photo.

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