Sometimes it is worth heading out on the trails even if the weather threatens to be uncooperative. That became the case today when I encountered this male Cooper's Hawk perched on a garbage can in the park. When I first saw the hawk I wasn't going to bother trying to approach it because in my experience getting close to a hawk is often a fruitless endeavor. But the person with me wasn't about to let this potential hawk photo opportunity pass without at least trying to get close enough for a photo, so I followed behind all the while thinking that we were destined for failure. I am happy to say that I was proven wrong. We were able to get very close, closer than I have ever been to a Cooper's Hawk, close enough that our distance to the hawk was best measured in feet and not yards, and the hawk remained in place as we tinkered with the controls on our cameras to get the best possible shot in the heavy overcast lighting. I had to shoot at ISO 640 to get a decent shutter speed, but I find I can get acceptably clean high ISO shots if I can get close and get the focus spot on.