December 2012 – Page 2 – Feathered Photography

Baiting Coyotes On Antelope Island

I’m of the strong opinion that baiting wild animals of any kind for photographic purposes (or most any other purpose, with very few exceptions) is a despicable practice. It often puts the critter at risk in a variety of different ways and no photo is worth that. I’ve railed against baiting before on this blog so I won’t go into all the details once again here. But this morning I saw another example of why I despise this practice so much. The weather has been dreary and overcast for so long that I haven’t been out photographing for a while, but this morning we decided to head for Antelope Island just to get “out there” and ease our cabin fever a little, despite the clouds. As we came around a small curve on the island we noticed this coyote in the middle of the road. I could hardly believe it when I saw that it was feeding on dog food that someone had obviously spread down the center of the road in an attempt to lure coyotes up close and into an area where they wouldn’t be obscured by vegetation. And it worked! Even as close as we were, the coyote was intent on eating all of the dog food before it left the area. After taking a few documentary photos I drove up to the spot and then we picked up the kibbels and threw them away from the road (we probably should have taken them with us but I didn’t think of it at the time). We then reported what we saw…

Great Horned Owls On The Montana Family Farm

Note: When I first started blogging 19 months ago, I somewhat arbitrarily decided to post my photos at 720 pixels on the long side. It didn’t take me long to change my mind and begin posting significantly larger images for the much better quality that becomes apparent at that larger size. Since that time I’ve pretty much ignored those early posts, until yesterday when Ingrid Taylar brought my attention to this Great Horned Owl post and it reminded me just how small the images are. So, I’ve decided to repost a very few of those very early works, with some additions and changes which will include: larger images – 900 pixels on the long side additional images, in most cases techs included with the photos updated narrative I’m thinking there might be two or three of these reposts over the next several weeks. I hope you’ll bear with me… For many years now there has been at least one pair of nesting Great Horned Owls on the farm where I grew up near Cut Bank, Montana. They were never there when I was a kid but they’ve sure taken to it since. This farm still seems like home to me and I return to it at least once every year for a visit with family and of course to check up on the owls. It’s the perfect place for these birds as it’s isolated, there are many old barns and granaries for the owls to find sanctuary and the area is literally crawling with field mice, voles and the ubiquitous Richardson’s Ground Squirrel…

Poop, Perches and Personal Preferences

Many raptors are “sit and wait” hunters, which means they often hunt from an elevated perch instead of “on the wing” and Red-tailed Hawks are well-known for this practice. An elevated perch provides good views over a large area and no extra energy need be expended in flight while looking for food. Typically these birds will use the same productive perch repeatedly over long periods of time, which presents a challenge to the photographer – poop (hereafter referred to as “whitewash”). Whitewash consists largely of crystalline uric acid (it’s more complicated than that but I’ll try not to stray into a discussion of the functions of the cloaca), which tends to be bright white. That whitewash can create some aesthetic and ethical conflicts between a “natural shot” and an image that has been “Photoshopped” to death, primarily by use of the clone tool. Many photographers routinely clone out whitewash and/or droppings and I’ll admit that I’ve done it before, but for me it’s an ethical dilemma because I much prefer to leave my images as natural as possible since I consider myself to be a “nature photographer”. In fact, right now I’m struggling with a series of Horned Lark images that I really like, but there’s a large, fresh and very conspicuous dropping right in front of the birds foot that most would find distracting. I could clone it out but every time I looked at that image I would know what I’d done. Canon 7D, 1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in A couple of days…

Mean-fighting Coots

American Coots are, without question, the most aquatic, common and widely distributed rail species in North America. Clumsy and awkward fliers, they require long running take-offs to become airborne but they are skilled swimmers – largely due to their lobately webbed toes. And oh, are they ever ornery! But first, allow me to make a few excuses… These images of fighting coots were taken several years ago when I was relatively new to photography. My settings weren’t particularly appropriate so I’m not including them here. And most of these photos were shot in JPEG rather than RAW, so my processing options were extremely limited when I tried to adjust exposure, so the frustratingly white bill is pretty bright in a few of these images. This is one of the aggressive postures used by males to challenge other males. Whenever I see this I know that all hell is about to break loose and I’d better be ready. In my experience, coots have two primary fighting strategies. One is for each bird to lie on their backs in the water while propped up by their wings and tails and strike out at each other with their feet and claws. In this fighting position, their defense is to try to grasp the opposing birds feet. Here we get a good look at those unusual lobed toes. If they become locked together they then fight with their bills. The second fighting strategy uses bills and wings as weapons. If one bird gains the advantage it often tries to force its opponent underwater. The losing bird…

My Recent Encounters With The Female Prairie Falcon

As regular readers of my blog know, I’ve had four close-up encounters with this female Prairie Falcon on the Antelope Island causeway over the last couple of months. I couldn’t resist posting some images of her in different poses that I haven’t published here previously. There is general agreement among folks who are much more knowledgeable about falcons than I am that it was the same bird in all four cases. 1/640, f/4.5, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Here she is on 10/7/12. I’ll never forget that morning because she let me get closer than I had ever been to a wild Prairie Falcon (even had to remove my tc). But there was a tradeoff (isn’t there always?) because the reason she felt so secure was that she was in deep shade, which isn’t the best situation for photography. Still, I’m happy to have the images of her that morning. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in A little over a month later (11/11/12) she killed a Northern Shoveler in the water about 50 yards out and waited for it to drift to shore. Here she has just claimed her prize and seemed to raise her wings in celebration. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in She attempted to enjoy her meal on the shore edge but waves kept coming in and sloshing the duck around so she decided to drag it further away…

Horned Larks

Horned Larks aren’t one of the “glamour species” for many, probably partly due to the fact that they’re so widespread and common. They’re found throughout most of North America and much of Eurasia. One of my scientific heroes, Carl (Carolus) Linnaeus, assigned the Latin name Eremophila alpestris (meaning “lark of the mountains”) to this bird, despite the fact that they commonly inhabit prairies, farmlands and deserts. These were the most common birds, by far, on the Montana farm where I grew up and they always bring back fond memories for me. Many folks think of them as just another “mostly brown little bird” but when you get close their colors and patterns really stand out. I really enjoy their soft, subtle call and have spent many hours watching them up close through my lens. These photos were taken on Antelope Island in the last few weeks. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in The sexes are similar, though the colors of the males are more vivid and the namesake “horns” of the female are less evident than those of the male. This is the female. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in She posed for me for quite a while before flying off. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in This is the male, in a setting that shows more habitat. Often the black horns are laid back flat on…

Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird – This Time A Female American Kestrel

Yesterday morning I spotted this female American Kestrel perched on a far-off rock to the west on Antelope Island. She was much too far away for decent photographs (as is obvious from the mediocre quality of these first five photos) but when I see raptors at most any distance it’s my practice to “scope them out” through my lens so I can ID them and look for anything unusual or interesting. I took a couple of shots for documentary purposes but at first I didn’t notice anything noteworthy about her except for the keratin flaking off of her beak. But then she scratched her face with her foot. Jesses! Those damned jesses again. In this shot you can see anklets above both feet and the jess on the left leg. She perched and preened on the rock for quite a while and a few minutes later she scratched with her other foot which provided a good look at the jess on the right ankle. I’m including this shot for a look at her right side, in the unlikely event that some local falconer may recognize her. I hung around for a long time in the hopes of catching her at take-off for a better look at both jesses and anklets. As luck would have it, when it happened they were both in shade and I lost focus on the bird but the photo still provides a decent look at the jesses. I’m deeply troubled by this event and I’ll provide a little background as…

Another Encounter With The Antelope Island Prairie Falcon

Two days ago we located the Prairie Falcon on the causeway once again. This bird spends most of its time on the island itself but occasionally ventures onto the causeway to hunt ducks. I’m quite sure, as are others who are more falcon knowledgeable than I, that it’s the same individual in all of my recent Prairie Falcon posts. Usually I complain about not being able to get close enough to my subjects but here I had the opposite problem. The only way I could even see this bird was from very close. From any further away the falcon was completely obstructed by the road edge and the vegetation growing there. The first two images are essentially full frame (very little crop) and that’s without my tc attached, so the falcon is too tight in the frame but this post is more about falcon adaptations than it is about aesthetics anyway. 1/1600, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This bird was a mess! It had apparently just finished dining on duck so it was wet, blood encrusted and disheveled, with tidbits still clinging to feet and beak. The bird is meticulously cleaning and scratching its beak with those impressive talons, which seems to me to be about like picking one’s teeth with a Bowie knife. 1/1600, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But what I found particularly interesting about many of the images I took of this bird was the good look at the well-defined and bulging crop. …

Male American Kestrel In Flight

Until yesterday, I’ve been largely stymied in my efforts got get good quality images of American Kestrels in flight. This has been especially frustrating because kestrels are the most numerous and widespread falcon in North America and they’re very common in my photography stomping grounds. I have many high quality images of them perched, but in-flight has been a different story. Because these falcons are small and their flight is swift and erratic, the photographer’s best chance is to catch them hovering. But they always hover facing into the wind and it seems like every time I’ve had that opportunity with them the sun has been behind them. Or they’re facing away from me. Or I can’t get a catch light in the eye. Or they’re too far away. Or they stop hovering and fly further away just as I get the pickup stopped and my lens up. Or… ad infinitum. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But yesterday morning, this male forgot just how much fun it is to aggravate me and gave me some opportunities in good light. He would hover for a few seconds, then move on to another nearby location and hover some more. It’s fascinating to watch them hover up close through the lens. The wings alternate between gliding and flapping and the tail is constantly adjusting to every minor variation in the breeze but the position of the head seems to be absolutely fixed in space as it scans below, looking for prey. A…

The Trouble With Harriers

Obtaining proper exposure on certain birds with high contrast colors has always been a big problem for bird photographers. When your subject has both very light and very dark colors it becomes problematic to get good detail in the darks without “blowing out” the whites, especially if the whites are very bright white. A partial list of bird species that are notoriously difficult to expose properly would include the Black Billed Magpie, male Wood Duck, adult Bald Eagle and many species of Terns. And because of the bright white rump patch found on all ages and both sexes of Northern Harriers, that species would also be on the list. One of the partial solutions to this problem is to photograph while the sun is low during either early morning or late afternoon because the light is much less “harsh” then and also because it has a better chance of striking the bird obliquely rather than at right angles (light at an angle tends to produce tiny texture shadows – “detail”). 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I like this image for a variety of reasons: the well-lit and detailed view of the topside of a harrier in flight, provided by the banking flight posture of the bird getting good eye contact with this flight posture isn’t easy, but this shot has it the background has some color texture – instead of solid blue sky or white clouds it’s a subtle mixture of both the harrier is sharp –…

Western Meadowlark Potpourri

On my last post which featured closeups of mating Lark Sparrows, long-time follower of my blog Tana Hunter asked “How about getting this close to some meadowlarks?” Her request reminded me that I’ve posted very few images of Western Meadowlarks in the 19 months I’ve been blogging so I did a little digging and these images are what I came up with. It’s another relatively long post but with this weather and its attendant crappy light I can’t be out shooting birds so I might as well be playing around with their images to take some of the sting out of my cabin fever… Here are a few interesting factual tidbits about Western Meadowlarks to hopefully get you in the mood: Although early explorers (including Lewis and Clark) were aware of the existence of the Western Meadowlark, it was subsequently ignored by most naturalists of the day so when John James Audubon gave the bird its Latin name, he chose Sturnella neglecta (the species name in recognition of that lack of attention) The Western Meadowlark is not a lark (though it is a gifted songster); instead it is most closely related to the blackbirds When probing into soil for food, these birds force their long bills into the ground and then the mandibles are spread apart, opening and loosening the soil to make food more obtainable They are particularly fond of sprouting grain in farmers fields. They bore into the soil with the long bill, grasp the soft germinating seed and then crush it to obtain the milk and usually discard…

Lark Sparrows – A Unique Mating Behavior

Back on May 25 of this year, on this post about Lark Sparrows, I made the following statement at the end of the post: “Now that I have some decent images of this species my next goal with them is to capture some of their unique behaviors. These birds often pass a twig from the male to the female during copulation (an impressive display of multitasking and concentration). And they do a turkey-like strut during courtship. I would love to capture either behavior.” In your comments, several of you gave me encouragement in meeting that goal and 11 days later I was at least partly able to do so. These are those images. A couple of these photos may be a little “clinical” for some, but to me it’s all behavior and it’s all interesting. Techs for all images were: 1/4000 or 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The courtship of Lark Sparrows includes behaviors found in no other songbirds. Prior to actual mating, the male struts like a turkey, with its tail sticking up to show off its white tail spots and its wings drooping to the ground. Then, before the male mounts her, he picks up a twig (or twigs) which he passes to the female just before copulation. When mating is complete (they may mate or attempt to mate up to 20 times in 3.5 minutes) the female often flies off with the twig. The courtship had already begun when I approached this mated pair. Normally, this species doesn’t allow me to get this close…

Northern Harriers Hunting

It’s getting to be what I call “harrier time” here in northern Utah so I thought I’d do a significant post on the species. For me, watching these birds hunt is absolutely mesmerizing and I could do it for hours. And I have – many, many times. But before I get into hunting I’d like to cover some basics on telling the sexes and ages apart. Sexual dimorphism in harriers is exceptional among birds of prey – telling adult males from adult females is easy because their colors are so dramatically different. But because juveniles of either sex strongly resemble adult females, that distinction becomes very tricky and causes a lot of confusion. So, here’s a primer: Adult males – gray above, mostly white below, black wing tips, lemon-yellow eyes Adult females – brown above, buffy with brown streaks below, lemon-yellow eyes (but in my experience, the eyes of adult females tend to be less bright than those of adult males) Juvenile of both sexes – similar to adult female but darker chocolate-brown above and strongly rufous (reddish) below Juvenile male – pale, greenish-yellow eyes Juvenile female – dark, chocolate-brown eyes All sexes and ages have the unique facial disc (ruff) characteristic of harriers. It’s not as prominent as it is in many owls but it can clearly be seen in this image. Its function is the same as it is in owls – to direct sound to the ears. Most hawks hunt almost exclusively by sight but because of their excellent hearing, thanks largely to the facial disc, harriers depend at least…

Road-killed Barn Owls

Talk about coincidence! Last night, as I was working up some images of Barn Owls for a blog post on the species, I received the following UBIRD email (used here by permission) from my good friend, enthusiastic birder and budding bird photographer, Shyloh Robinson. Shyloh lives very close to Farmington Bay Waterfowl Management Area (FBWMA) and this time of year he’s almost always at the refuge in the evenings looking for birds – particularly owls. “:( when a grown man uses an emoticon, you KNOW he’s serious! Each night this week, I’ve visited my home at FBWMA to look at the owls. I went a bit early tonight to make sure I saw some hawks too. They were posted up in the usual spots. I drove straight to the 4way to wait for any short-eared. (That’s the good spot for them.) Sadly, I saw no owls… Until I left and was on Glovers Lane. Another Barn Owl was dead in the road, and being collected. I got a lump in my throat. I’m quickly learning why moving vehicles are a Barn Owl’s worst enemy. These alba’s have meant a lot to me lately and I’m saddened to see them ghosted. Now what? Shyloh” Knowing Shyloh as well as I do, I knew he was devastated. He simply adores “his” owls – an emotion that I share because I’ve spent many, many hours at FBWMA looking for, and photographing, those Barn Owls. They are a special species, in so many ways. Shyloh’s UBIRD post inspired me to change the focus of my Barn…

Month: December 2012