buteo jamaicensis – Page 21 – Feathered Photography

Red-tailed Hawk Rejecting Intestines Of Prey

Many raptors will methodically and deliberately remove the intestinal tract of their prey before consuming it, a behavior that I’ve photographed several times with different species. In my research I’ve never been able to find out exactly why this is done – there are multiple theories but apparently no definitive answers. Maybe they tend to reject them because they “taste bad”, or because they “harbor harmful bacteria” or because they are filled with contents that are of “low food value”. Perhaps it’s a combination of factors. Recently, to add to the confusion, I’ve come up with my own working theory. The intestines of vertebrates, particularly mammals such as the rodents that many of these raptors regularly prey on, tend to be infested with a variety of parasites – including worms such as intestinal roundworms, flukes and tapeworms. The life cycles of many of these parasites are convoluted and complex but some of them lay thousands of eggs into the hosts intestinal contents every day. Eating those contents could have unpleasant consequences for predators so it seems logical to me that selection pressure might preserve such a behavior. 1/1000. f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up, baited or called in While I was in SW Montana a few weeks ago this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk flew to a nearby post with a vole and started to eat it. It began by opening the vole and then removing and swallowing several desirable morsels. Here you see an errant feather floating away in the breeze. 1/1000. f/5.6, ISO 640, 500…

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk Honing Its Hunting Skills

For the past few weeks I’ve been working a pair of juvenile Red-tailed Hawks with varying degrees of success. Mostly they’re just toying with me – staying just out of range or on the wrong side of the road in poor light. But on two mornings the lighter colored of the two birds put on quite a show. It chose to do its “sit and wait” hunting from a series of dark rocks close to the road and didn’t seem to care that I was there. And close. 1/2000. f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited The rocks are on the side of a small mountain with vole-laden prairie grass between me and the hawk so the bird would perch on them and then take off for prey it spotted – often in my general direction. The prey is presumable nearly always voles though these young birds are usually unsuccessful. It did catch and eat a small snake once but the action was buried in the grasses. I’ve yet to see it actually catch a vole and that makes me feel sympathy for the hawk but on the other hand all these attempts at prey have given me some nice photo ops. 1/2000. f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited Usually the setting had grass and/or rocks in the background and often it was close enough to the hawk to make focus-lock difficult but here the background was a little further away. On both days by the time the bird cooperated the sun was high enough that the…

Landing Red-tailed Hawk

I haven’t often succeeded in photographing a landing raptor. When they take off they usually don’t come back and when they do it’s often difficult to maintain focus on them as they land because of close backgrounds. However, this immature Red-tailed Hawk gave me just such an opportunity a couple of days ago. 1/2000, f 7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 It was hunting from a huge rock outcropping and looking down over the valley in the background of this image. I spent quite a while with this bird but it was side lit and I wasn’t very optimistic about getting a decent take-off shot because I expected it to spot potential prey in the valley below and take off away from me, giving me butt shots only. 1/1600, f 7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 Which is exactly what happened. However, I saw where the bird landed far below in the valley, missed the prey and took off again so I wondered if I could be lucky enough for it to return to the same perch. I wasn’t particularly optimistic because I was so close to the rock (you’ll notice from my techs that I had even removed my tc). The problem was that as soon as the hawk took off from that distant perch it disappeared behind the same massive rock outcropping on the side of the mountain that had been its perch and if it did return I wouldn’t know it until the very last split second, as it flared up to land on the rock from behind and below it. So I prefocussed on the likely…

Juvenile Red-tailed Hawk Take-off

Recently I’ve had several opportunities with a pair of Juvenile Red-tailed Hawks that like to hunt from some elevated rocks that look down over some prime rodent habitat. It’s nice for a change to find them on natural and attractive perches rather than telephone poles or even fence posts. Don’t get me wrong, I like a rustic old fencepost as a perch but I do enjoy these natural rocks for a change. 1/8000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc (inappropriate techs for this shot, hadn’t had time to change them yet) The birds scan the grasses below them for prey and if you watch their behavior and body language carefully you can anticipate take-off. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 640, 400 f/4, 1.4 tc I could tell this bird had spotted potential prey below (a vole, most likely) so I was ready to fire off a burst as it launched. I’m always happy when I can get a wing position like this one. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 640, 400 f/4, 1.4 tc In the very next frame of the burst I got a similar wing position as it lifted off of the rock and luck played a significant role in that fact. The burst rate of my Canon 7D seems to be just about the same speed as that of the wing-beats of raptors this size as they take off, so there was a very good chance that the wings in both shots would be in the much less desirable horizontal position. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don’t. Observing and photographing these two birds has…

Goofy Red-tailed Hawk

When I first encountered this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk in Beaverhead County three weeks ago it was eating a vole on top of this fence post. Soon after it finished the rodent it began to act a little strange. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4 In these first few shots it may look like the hawk is simply shaking or “ruffling” its feathers but I’m convinced that wasn’t the case. I’ve seen many birds perform that feather maintenance activity but what was happening here looked quite different. I remember telling Mia while it was occurring that it looked like the bird was “dancing” on top of the post. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4 The hawk went through some strange gyrations and postures that were different from what you see with a simple “shake” and they lasted an unusually long time (I have many shots of the behavior). This tail-up posture, for example, is reminiscent of defecation but the bird didn’t defecate and the wing position isn’t what you would normally see during defecation anyway. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4 The bird wasn’t shaking to get these unusual feather positions either – instead it seemed to be deliberately and relatively slowly (compared to shaking) erecting its feathers. I have 8 – 10 shots that are very similar to this one and they’re not all in sequence. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4 Then the bird decided to take off from the post… 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4 but…

Rustic Red-tail

This is another Montana Red-tailed Hawk, photographed in Beaverhead County a few weeks ago. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I tend to like rustic settings like this for raptors in general but particularly for Red-tails because they have adapted so well to our rural habitats. 1/800, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4 This hawk was hunting from the post and changed positions on the perch several times to get a better view in different directions. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 Soon the bird went into stretch mode. 1/500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 But eventually it spotted something of interest on the ground (and very close to me) and flew down to investigate. It didn’t find any prey and here it is looking back toward the fence – deciding which fence post to use for its next perch. 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 It chose another near-by post to hunt from but that hunting station didn’t last long because… 1/1000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 a very aggressive robin took exception to this new location. 1/500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 The hawk took the bombardment for a short period but eventually took off in apparent exasperation – with the angry robin continuing to buzz the raptor all the way. The more time I spend with raptors the more I realize just how much harassment they get from other bird species. At times they seem to have no peace whatsoever….

Red-tailed Hawk Double Serendipity

One of the frustrations with photographing birds on Antelope Island is the perches. There aren’t many trees on the island so many of the birds perch on the rocks. The rocks on the north end of the island are primarily Tintic Quartzite which is almost white in color, so getting the exposure right when a darker bird is perched on them is problematic. And even when you do get the overall exposure right, those white perches just don’t have a lot of visual appeal for me. The rocks on the southern 2/3 of the island are of a geologic formation called the Farmington Canyon Complex. They’re some of the oldest rocks on earth (2.7 billion years) and they’re significantly darker in color so they make much more aesthetically appealing perches for bird photography. The problem is that most of these rocks are relatively far from the road so I have very few images of birds perched on them. Almost every day we’re on the island (usually several times per week) Mia or I will comment about our frustrations in getting quality shots of birds on these dark and dramatic looking rocks. Last week our luck changed. Not only did we get a bird on those rocks – it was a raptor (yes, I’m a raptor freak), it was in good light and it let us get close for a good long while. And as you’ll see, it even approached us! 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Mia spotted this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk first (she usually does. After all I have to drive…) but…

A Mated Pair Of Red-tailed Hawks

Our recent trip to the Centennial Valley of sw Montana lasted 6 days. On the last morning, only an hour or so before we had to leave, we found these cooperative adult Red-tailed Hawks. I couldn’t believe our luck – warm, early morning light coming from the right direction, a clean natural perch, an interesting and varying background with clouds and blue sky, they allowed us close to them for over 20 minutes and there were two of them! 1/800, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc When we first found them they were perched together. I strongly suspect they’re a mated pair (though I don’t know that unequivocally) since they’re adults and many Red-tails stay paired year-round. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc The two birds stayed together on the perch for almost 10 minutes as we photographed them and then one of them flew off. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc The hawk left behind immediately decided to occupy the vacated perch… 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc and did so for some time. 1/500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc But the bird that flew off landed in a nearby conifer and immediately had to contend with a pair of very aggressive and persistent American Kestrels. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc Soon the kestral-harrassed hawk returned, only to find its preferred perch already occupied. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4. 1.4 tc There was some…

Red-tailed Hawk Take-off

We just returned last night from a 5 1/2 day camping/photo trip to sw Montana. It was simply an awesome journey with mostly great weather and light, lots of wildlife and birds (especially raptors), spectacular scenery, interesting characters and no significant mishaps but now the piper must be paid. I have an endless list of chores to catch up on which includes unpacking, washing gobs of dried mud and cow poop off of my pickup and camping trailer and then culling thousands of new images and processing the keepers. So, for obvious reasons this will be a short post. 1/2000. f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This image was taken last Thursday morning in Beaverhead County, Montana. Lots of factors have to play out to get a nice image of a bird taking off and for this shot I was able to get many of them right but I was missing an attractive, natural perch. In this case it was an ugly power pole insulator and wire so I decided to clone them out. I’m a very reluctant cloner but when I just can’t resist the temptation I always disclose. Because of the trip I’ve been slow in posting and commenting on other blogs. I’ll remedy both shortcomings in the near future. Ron

Just A Shot That I Like… #21 – Red-tailed Hawk In Dramatic Light

Strongly directional light can be a blessing or a curse and all too often it’s the latter. It makes proper exposure a challenge because it’s very easy to blow the highlights and/or have shadows so deep that there’s no detail there at all. But when things work out the effect can be appealing and dramatic. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This old cedar stump is a favorite perch of Red-tailed Hawks at the base of Utah’s Stansbury Mountains in the west desert. It’s usually a frustrating situation for me though because I can’t access a proper position to get the sun behind me and for most of the day the sidelight is just too harsh for an exposure that works well. But on this one morning the hawk was on the stump just as the sun came over the Oquirrh Mountains to the east so the light was soft and warm enough to make an exposure that I liked and I thought the shaded upper background worked well with the light on the bird’s head. Ron Ron

Red-tailed Hawk with Long-billed Hawk Syndrome

This morning I found this Red-tailed Hawk on a telephone pole near Grantsville, Utah. As soon as I looked at it through my lens I knew that something was wrong with the birds beak. A bit of research almost immediately turned up the probable culprit – Long-billed Hawk Syndrome. Birds with this condition have atypical uncontrolled growth of either or both upper and lower bills. Birds affected often have secondary infections in their bills. Since their bills are used for activities such as eating, preening, killing prey and feeding offspring the syndrome is extremely serious. Most birds with this condition die of starvation. The syndrome gets its name because most affected birds have been Red-tailed Hawks, though other species of raptors get the condition also, including Peregrine Falcons and Rough-legged Hawks. The first case of LBH Syndrome was reported in Washington state in 1997 and reports have been increasing since. This is what a normal Red-tailed Hawk’s bill looks like – quite a dramatic and obvious contrast to the diseased one. The cause of this condition is unknown, though research is ongoing. A sad situation for this poor bird. More info here. Ron Addendum: I posted one of these photos on a nature phography forum and a veterinarian with many years of experience with falconry birds has stated unequivocally that this hawks condition occurred because it was “kept jessed and tethered by someone who was totally ignorant of the necessity to keep the upper and lower bill trimmed to normal shape”. Whatever the true cause of the deformity, it’s…

Red-tailed Hawks of Utah’s West Desert

Red-tailed Hawks are common and widespread throughout most of North America but I typically find them to be wary and difficult subjects to approach and photograph. However we did have some pretty good luck with them a couple of mornings this past week in western Utah. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, EV -0.67, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc We found them deep in a canyon of one of the many “island mountain ranges” of Utah’s west desert. There were at least a half-dozen of them hanging out together, many of them juveniles. The lighting at the bottom of the canyon in early morning was often filtered and spotty and the perches were usually dead trees with lots of branches going every which way so the backgrounds and settings were typically busy. This is one of the cleaner shots I got of one on a perch in the canyon bottom. Canon 7D, 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640,EV -1.00, 500 f/4 This one chose a juniper perch which would provide a clean background for a takeoff shot so I tried to leave room in front of the bird just in case. I was looking slightly down on the hawk when it launched and I liked the good look at the topside of the bird in this shot but do wish it had been looking more my way. But then I probably wouldn’t have any light on the eye – sometimes you just can’t win… Canon 7D, 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 640 EV +0.33, 500 f/4 Shooting these hawks in flight was very frustrating! Each morning they would pretty much…

Tag: buteo jamaicensis