Red-tailed Hawk Lift-off

A month ago tomorrow this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was hunting from the dark Farmington Canyon Complex rocks of Antelope Island.   It would use this elevated perch, and others like it, to scan the grasses below for prey.

 

 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in

I could usually tell from its behavior when it had spotted something and was about to take off after it.  I always hope for a take-off toward me and angled obliquely to my position instead of “dead-on head-on”.  The worst direction is away from me of course and I’ll settle for a fully lateral direction.

 

 

 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in

Here the bird chose the slightly less than ideal lateral direction.  A head turn toward me would have improved the shot but for some reason this hawk was more intent on the prey than it was in pleasing the photographer.  But I really liked the dynamic body position at take-off.

 

 

 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in

 Some folks prefer the wings-up position over wings-down but I like them both.

 

 

 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in

I thought I’d make this final image a vertical composition to show better detail on the hawk, given the flight posture.  The last three shots are sequential images in the burst.

I was able to keep focus locked on the bird for several more shots but of course the further it flew the more it got past me and the less desirable the angle was.

Ron