I spent yesterday morning cruising the back roads of Utah’s west desert with the primary goal of finding and photographing raptors. I found a fair number of Red-tailed, Swainson’s and even Ferruginous Hawks but for a variety of reasons decent images of them were largely elusive.
Most of the birds were perched on power poles and the biggest problem with getting acceptable flight shots was those blasted wires! I’ll include one image to show you what I mean.
1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
When this intermediate morph Swainson’s Hawk took off from the pole I was able to get 13 flight shots with nothing clipped and most of them were sharp. But as the hawk flew it mostly followed the power line and there was wire in front of the bird in most of those shots.
1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
Only two of the sharp photos had no wire in front of the bird and this is one of them. I like it fairly well but the underside of the hawk is mostly shaded.
1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, wire removed from frame corner, not baited, set up or called in
Because of better light on the wings and a more dynamic flight posture this is my favorite from the sequence, though I do wish there’d been some fluffy white clouds in the sky to make the background a little more interesting.
Flight shots of birds will always be a challenge because there’s so many unpredictable and uncontrollable elements involved. All we can do is keep on trying – after all, that’s half the fun (and a big part of the frustration).
Ron
wonderful shots Ron I really know what you mean about those darn wires!
Charlotte
The third is my favorite. 😀
Power, Grace, Style…
Thank you.
“All we can do is keep on trying.” Ain’t that the truth! Although it IS frustrating to not be able to take the quality images I would like, I feel better for having had a chance to see a magnificent raptor at all. I could have just remained indoors watching TV or mowed the grass or (gulp) had to go to “work”. Thank goodness I usually make the “right” decision and drive toward where the birds live!
Superb images, despite wires and shadows and that nasty pure blue sky! 🙂
Glad you were able to get some great “wireless” shots of this beautiful bird…love soft siennas and grays in body and wings…
Thank you, Patty.
These look just like Alaska, one of Hawkwatch’s education birds. The funny thing is, that when I saw the first pic I was looking so closely at the bird that I did not notice the wire! It was not until I started reading your post that I realized it was there. I would probably be an easy mark for a pickpocket!
I still haven’t seen that bird at HWI, Tana. One of these days… Thank you.
Beautiful photos, Ron. The detail on them (and, of course, the fantastic bird itself) more than makes up for the background. Wonderful!
Thanks very much, Devin.
I also like the third one best, especially with the detail that shows on the right wing. I think I prefer the photo as is, with the plain sky, because there is nothing to detract from the details of the bird.
That right wing is my favorite part of the image too, Susan. Thanks.