This might just be the rattiest looking raptor I’ve ever encountered in the wild.
I found this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk three days ago in Box Elder County, Utah. It was too far away for good photos but even so I scoped it out with my lens for ID and to look for anything unusual.
On this morning as I was leaving Antelope Island after a morning of shooting I was, as always, watching for a Prairie Falcon along the causeway. Occasionally I’ve been lucky with that strategy but it doesn’t happen very often. One advantage I had is the fact that if there was one there it would likely be perched on the rocks next to the Great Salt Lake. With that dark blue background, the bright whites on the breast of the falcon are often easy to spot. And that’s exactly what happened.
This male American Kestrel preened for me for some time as he enjoyed the security of his favorite perch. He really worked over those tail feathers especially.
Baiting birds into close proximity for photographic purposes is a highly controversial subject, especially when it’s done to raptors. Often live bait such as store-bought mice are thrown in front of the photographer so that photos can be obtained of the bird in flight as it swoops down for the rodent.
Sometimes bird photographers have to be a little crafty to get the shot.
This image was taken several years ago in early October at Farmington Bay. I’ve always liked the color combinations in the shot. The background is the deeply shaded Wasatch Mountains. The reds are caused by the fall colors of scrub oak and other vegetation. 1/125, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It was overcast, with clearing to the west (behind me) so it was bright back there. This kind of lighting often produces a horizontal catch light in the eye, rather than the more typical pinpoint catch light. I often like that effect, as I do here. I’ve seen noticeably fewer kestrels this winter and early spring than I have for many years. I sure hope there’s nothing ominous going on… Ron
I spotted this adult Red-tailed Hawk perched on the side of a hill and hoped to get some take-off shots as it lifted off and then perhaps some full flight images. I always try to anticipate direction of take-off in this type of situation and I was pretty sure it would lift off to my left in the direction it’s facing. But I was wrong…
Many extinct and ancient relatives of modern birds had alulae, as do flies (insects of order diptera). I find it fascinating that evolutionary selection pressure has produced this structure in such diverse and relatively unrelated groups as birds and some flying insects. And that man has (once again) copied nature to solve a modern problem.
One of my favorite subjects is the male Northern Harrier. Because juveniles of both sexes are similar to the adult female, to the untrained eye most harriers look like females which is one of the reasons that many folks believe that they rarely see males – thus the name “Gray Ghost” for the ”elusive” adult male.
Last week, Mia and I enjoyed our first camping/photo trip of the season. We explored some remote areas of northern Utah and even found some interesting birds. But the incident I’m reporting on here still has me a bit perplexed.
I’ve spent many hours watching Rough-legged Hawks hunt. Nearly always they hunt from the air or from elevated perches but several years ago this bird showed me a technique I had never seen before and haven’t since. All of these images are presented in the order they were taken. Techs for these shots were: 1/2000 – 1/3200, f/8. ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I found the hawk on the ground and as I approached it in my pickup it didn’t fly off as I expected it would. Here it’s looking at me but most of the time it was scanning the grasses in the vicinity – obviously hunting for voles from the ground. It would lift off but only fly a few feet before it landed again. In this first lift-off it had vegetation in its talons. I’ve seen them do this before – it’s almost like they’re reluctant to let go of the plant material after they’ve missed the prey. The hawk landed again… And intensely scanned the surrounding area for prey. Then another take-off… and it flew within inches of the ground… before it pounced on a vole and swallowed it. Then it continued to hunt in the same manner. Another take-off… and another. There’s blood on the right foot from the last vole. The hawk repeatedly did the same thing – take…
The Osprey is a species that I’ve only had a handful of opportunities with but last spring I found a cooperative nesting pair at Flaming Gorge. In my mind this is a true miracle species because it has arisen Phoenix-like from the ashes of its own demise. During the 1950s-1970s their populations crashed dramatically, largely due to the effects of DDT and other persistent pesticides in the environment which caused severe eggshell-thinning and poor hatching success. But when those chemicals were banned the Osprey made a miraculous comeback and today their numbers are approaching historical highs. Part of the reason for that success has been the widespread use of artificial nesting sites. In some areas of North America, 90-95% of all nesting pairs choose these artificial sites over natural ones. The nest of this mated pair was on a pole installed for that purpose close to Flaming Gorge Reservoir. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, cloned out a piece of nest platform, not baited, set up or called in This is most likely the male of the pair (less conspicuous breast band) bringing a small fish in to the incubating female on the nest platform. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I believe this to be the female coming into the nest. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, canvas added, natural light, not baited, set up or called in When the male would bring its mate a fish…
I’m sorry to say that rampant copyright infringement and outright image thievery have forced me to make an unwanted change to my blog.
Back in November I blogged about my encounter with a Prairie Falcon and its Northern Shoveler prey. I thought that some of the images I didn’t use back then were worthy of another post. This falcon struck the duck on the water, then waited for it to die and to be washed up onto shore. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It attempted to enjoy its meal at the water’s edge but waves kept coming in and “rocking the boat”… 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in so the falcon decided to drag the shoveler further up the rocky shore and away from the annoying waves. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in It wasn’t an easy task. Average weight for Northern Shovelers is almost as much as it is for Prairie Falcons (1.3 vs 1.6 lbs) so the falcon really struggled in its attempt to drag the duck to a more suitable dining area. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I thought this was an interesting shot with the wings up, the left foot off the ground and direct eye contact. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Finally the falcon was satisfied with the…
This past fall I spent several days photographing a couple of juvenile Red-tailed Hawks on Antelope Island. I suspect they were siblings as they seemed to enjoy each others company, though one of them was significantly more skittish than the other. This one was the more cooperative of the two. I enjoy the challenge of lift-off sequences. I usually consider myself lucky if I can get 2-3 sharp shots with poses I like before losing focus on the bird but this time I did better than usual. There won’t be much “narration” here, just a series of images as the hawk took off after prey. Some of the shots are a little sharper than others but I like seeing the entire sequence – “warts” and all. Techs for all these images were identical – 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in. Moment of lift-off. I like the splayed feet. Here the nictitating membrane is partially closed. Compositionally the left wing is too tight at the top of this image. I could easily add canvas up there and I might. I like how they splay their tail during the wing down-beat at take-off. Normally I do very little cloning but in this case I’d probably remove the stem under the bird if I chose to print this image. I did add a little canvas at the bottom of this shot. These last two images are very similar but I include them to…
