No, the Roughies haven’t returned to Utah early from their northern adventures. It’s just that I got to thinking about them yesterday while looking through some older images and was reminded of how handsome they are and how much I look forward to their appearance in the fall.
1/1250, f/5.6. ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in
This is an image from two winters ago that I haven’t posted before because it was taken under overcast skies so the lighting was far from ideal. But I loved the look at the topside of the hawk with the flared tail and upswept primaries so I decided to go for broke and post it anyway.
With the low light my requisite camera settings gave me very little depth of field. I’ll admit that it was at least as much luck as skill that I locked focus on the body of the bird rather than one of the wings (which would have made the head and body soft). The blur of the wingtips is lack of depth of field, not motion blur.
Last year I didn’t see many of these hawks until early November – kind of late for them I believe. I hope I don’t have to wait so long for them this year.
Ron
Light or not, it’s a fantastic shot! Thanks for sharing! You are sometimes too much of a perfectionist. Although having said that, I do love your perfection. 🙂
Charlotte
I am so glad that you relented and shared this beautiful bird. And I hope that you see many, many more of them.
Such a beautiful capture Ron. I’ve only seen one of these up close, it was perched on post and flew to another so was lucky to get a few shots. It wasn’t until after I got home and looked it up in my bird book that I id’d it. Hope to see one this year again.
I hope you see more than one (as in many) this year, Tanja. Last year we had fewer of them than usual around here.
Thank you for posting this gorgeous picture of a beautiful hawk, one of my favorites!!
I think you did a great job capturing this shot!!
I appreciate the nice words, Dick.
What a Beauty! Your photo shows every feather is in place, working perfectly! Thank you for giving a new delight daily!
The hawk does seem to be pretty well coiffed, doesn’t it, Mikal?