Feathered Photography

Northern Harrier Hunting a Vole

Ron Dudley — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 22:07:30 +0000

Over the last five years I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time photographing, watching and studying hunting Northern Harriers. When they pounce on their prey the action is usually so far away (or buried in the vegetation) that I don’t get a good look at what’s actually happening. But all that changed with this adult female who was so intent on capturing a vole buried deep in the matted, dried vegetation that she virtually ignored me. What fun to watch!

Unlike most other hawks, harriers very often use auditory cues (sound) to locate prey. In fact they have a facial “ruff” or disc much like owls do and its purpose is the same – to funnel sounds to the ears. The feathers that form the disc can be raised in response to noise, essentially enlarging the disc and improving hearing.

1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Harriers often hunt along predictable “pathways” and this one had made several passes by me earlier. However this time she attempted to pounced on something right in front of me – almost certainly it was a vole since they are very nearly the exclusive diet of wintering harriers.

1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

She missed the vole but from her demeanor she could obviously hear it under the mat of vegetation and she became quite agitated in her attempts to get at it.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

She repeatedly rose into the air a couple of feet and pounced back down on the same spot with her talons.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Here she does it again.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

At one point she fished out what looks like an old, rotted piece of wood that had been buried under the vegetation, lifted it a few inches above the surface and then dropped it again in a different place. She was going to a lot of trouble to root out this vole and in reality it may have been a whole nest of voles as bird behaviorists often mention harriers making repeated strikes at vole nests.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

And “repeated strikes” she certainly made, again…

1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

and again.

1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

At this point she seemed to have become quite frustrated as her attacks on the apparent nest of voles became even more intense.

1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

A few seconds later she seemed to be hearing one of the voles moving under the vegetation to my left so she followed it (as she’s doing here) and made a few more attempts at it but was never successful so she soon flew off to hunt elsewhere.

1/1000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This last photo is out-of-order and I lost sharp focus on the bird but I’m including it here to demonstrate some of her other attempts at removing vegetation to get at the vole(s).

This was a fascinating scene to watch and photograph. Her frustration (forgive my anthropomorphism) at not being able to get at the vole was palpable, to the point that I almost wanted to rush over and help her dig it out. I’m kidding of course. But just barely…

Ron

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Just A Shot That I Like… #15 – Rough-legged Hawk Lift Off

Ron Dudley — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 23:56:15 +0000

Ugly perches have been the bain of my photographic existence lately. When a bird lets me get unusually close it always seems to be on a metal post, sign, hunk of concrete , telephone pole or even a sailboat mast. For that reason I’ve been attempting a lot of take-off shots recently.

1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4

Case in point: a few weeks ago this hawk let me get ridiculously close but it was perched on a particularly unattractive metal sign. The light angle was good so I removed my teleconverter and waited to see if it would take-off, fully expecting it to launch away from me as they usually do. What a pleasant surprise when it took off parallel to me and gave me good eye contact at the same time.

I particularly like the good detail, the blood on the feet from its last meal and the nice look at those namesake “rough legs”.

Ron

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Eastern Kingbirds

Ron Dudley — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 00:41:50 +0000

It’s snowing hard as I write this and it’s been overcast and gloomy for days which has turned my thoughts to spring birds. Eastern Kingbirds are a prime example as they winter in the Amazon so seeing them around here is a sure sign of springtime.

They’re a fascinating species. Kingbirds are notorious for their aggressive nature toward other birds and their scientific name Tyrannus tyrannus very appropriately means “tyrant, despot or king”. During the breeding season they’re a “sit and wait predator”, largely of flying insects though they eat mostly fruit while on their winter range. They have never been observed to drink water – apparently getting enough of it in their insect and fruit diet. They virtually never walk anywhere! Most locomotion is by flight and when on the ground they either hop to a new location or take short flights but they don’t walk. The only time walking has ever been observed is during nest site selection.

1/1000, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

The kingbird in the first four photos of this post was the most cooperative specimen of the species I’ve ever photographed. It let me get close while on a natural perch (as opposed to the fence wires they so often prefer) and it gave me a variety of interesting calling, preening and stretching poses for almost five minutes.

1/2000, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

As the bird moved to my left on the perch it (the perch) developed a different character due to the curving twig coming off the main branch. Here the kingbird is beginning an elaborate and drawn out stretch. Some of the whites are a little bright under the wing but I wanted to show this pose as part of the behavior.

1/1250, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

It fanned its tail and then stretched each wing with what seemed to me like obvious enjoyment.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Then it began to call. And I do mean with enthusiasm!

1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

These next three photos were taken on my family farm in northwest Montana. I believe this bird and the one below to be juveniles. They were hunting insects from the barbed wire fences. And in reality I really like barbed wire for a perch when it’s rusty and appropriate for the species as it is for these kingbirds.

1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Another thing I liked about the Montana shots is the nice backgrounds I often got from the drying grasses in morning or evening light. I went for an extra shallow depth of field with this shot.

1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This adult bird had just caught a spider(?) and returned to the wire with it. That’s a useful bit of behavior for bird photographers to know - kingbirds will often hunt from a low perch, fly off to retrieve the insect they’ve spotted and then return to the same perch with the prey. Researchers estimate that this happens roughly 50% of the time. So if you wait for the return you can often photograph them with prey or even in flight just as they’re landing if you pre-focus on the perch. Knowing the behavior tendencies of your subjects can often be a very useful tool for nature photographers.

I don’t know for sure what the red debris is on the beak – perhaps a bit of a previous and colorful insectivorous meal…

1/1250, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

But if you’re going to try for that landing (or take-off shot) be prepared with the appropriate settings to get the results you’re after. Here I wasn’t anticipating a take-off and didn’t have enough shutter speed to freeze the action in the wings. Something like ISO 400 to 500 and f/6.3 or 7.1 would have given me the shutter speed to stop the motion in the wings. That said, many folks prefer this motion blur in the wings for situations like this.

1/1250, f/10, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

One final shot that I like even though it’s a little bit different. The wire isn’t rusty but I enjoy the way it frames this fledgling and I like how the youngster is plopped down on the perch. The challenge here was deciding how to rotate and crop the image since the fence was skewed way out of “square”. I finally made the decision to rotate to make the perch wire level and let the rest of the wires fall where they may…

Kingbirds are great fun. I didn’t see many of the eastern species last summer and hope for better luck this coming season.

Ron

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Just A Shot That I Like… #14 – Prairie Falcon Warming In The Early Morning Sun

Ron Dudley — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:55:15 +0000

As I’ve mentioned previously in this blog Prairie Falcons have been one of my nemesis birds for a very long time. But recently I had several close up opportunities with the species.

1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This juvenile falcon had been hunting smaller duck species along the shore of the Great Salt Lake and would occasionally rest on some shoreline rocks. This time I caught it enjoying the warming rays of the sun just minutes after sunrise. Here the warm light has just reached the bird and perch but hadn’t yet hit much of the water in the background.

I’ve posted several images of this species recently and perhaps I’ve overdone it but I guess my excitement over finally “conquering” a nemesis just got the best of me…

Ron

Addendum: A note to any bird photographers who may notice my camera settings for this image and wonder about them. I certainly didn’t need 1/3200 shutter speed for this static image but I had already taken multiple shots of this falcon with more appropriate settings for a perched bird so now that I had enough light I decided to increase my shutter speed in preparation for take-off. But of course the bird took off facing away from me so I deleted those images.

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A Howl of a Surprise

Ron Dudley — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 21:35:10 +0000

When you’re out in the field you just never know what you might see. Or hear.

On an early morning this week I found this Male Northern Harrier on a trail sign. Since the perch was not a natural one I set up to try to get a take-off shot if he should lift off.

1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

As usual I was shooting from my pickup and in order to get in position for good light I had to park in the middle of the lightly used road. In such cases I always roll down the window on the passenger side so that I can hear any vehicle that might approach so I can get out of their way (it’s very easy to not see an approaching vehicle while concentrating on a bird through the camera’s viewfinder). Having that window down made a big difference to how I reacted to what happened next.

1/1600, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Suddenly there was a piercing howl that was so loud it sounded like it was coming from inside my truck! Seriously, I almost jumped out of my skin it startled me so much. It was this coyote, hidden in the grasses. It was only about 75′ away from me and with three of the four windows down the clamor was tremendous. Coyotes often howl as loudly as 105 decibels and believe me that’s a very impressive din at this close range – especially when it’s unexpected.

At first I could only see the front of the coyote through all the grasses, rabbitbrush and dried sunflowers.

1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

So I quickly maneuvered my pickup to try to get a less obstructed view – fully expecting the coyote to high-tail it but it just stood there with its front feet planted on a mound of snow and continued to howl enthusiastically. And did I say it was loud?

1/800, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

The coyote’s eyes were always closed during a howl but at least in this shot it turned a bit to put some light on the face.

1/1000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

By this time we’d spotted another coyote very close by and in this shot the animal turned to look at its companion which finally gave me both light on the face and open eyes. In this image the coyote looks rather handsome and noble…

1/640, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

but I couldn’t resist including this shot taken just as it came out of a howl which made it look silly, even demented. It made me smile.

I’ve often seen and heard coyotes yipping and howling but it’s always been from great distances. This was a new experience for me and one I’ll not soon forget even though I never did get any completely unobstructed photos.

Ron

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Just A Shot That I Like…#13 – Puffed-Up Chukar In Golden Light

Ron Dudley — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:45:06 +0000

During spring and early summer Chukars habitually call from large rock perches but in winter they’re secretive, elusive and very difficult to approach. On the rare occasions I can get close to the species this time of year they’re buried in the vegetation and I can’t get a clear shot.

1/800, f/8, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

But I found this bird on a nice boulder perch last month on one of the first very cold mornings of the winter. The sun had just come up over the Wasatch Mountains and this Chukar was determined to absorb some heat from the warming rays so it hardly moved a feather for the several minutes I was able to keep it in frame. At times like this they fluff up their insulating feathers and always remind me of the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Or perhaps the bird simply swallowed a softball, ya think?

Full disclosure – I cloned out a couple of bird droppings on the rock which is something I seldom do but in this case they were quite conspicuous and distracting.

Ron

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American Kestrel Preening on a Rabbitbrush Perch

Ron Dudley — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:07:46 +0000

American Kestrels are pugnacious and skittish little falcons that are usually difficult to approach. But last week I found a cooperative male warming himself in the early morning sun while perched on rabbitbrush. Though feisty by nature this kestrel looked almost cuddly while all puffed up against the cold and nestled into the bush.

1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

I first approached him head-on which gave me some images where bird and perch combined to produce a pyramid shape that I liked.

1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

But then I maneuvered to get a different angle so that at least part of the tail would be visible.

In these early shots my camera settings were meant to give me enough shutter speed for the take-off that I fully expected.

1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 250, 500 f/4

But when he began to groom contentedly I started fiddling with my settings to get shutter speeds and depth of field more appropriate for the situation. Here he is passing one of his tail feathers through his bill in typical preening behavior.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 250, 500 f/4

He gave me a variety of preening poses that I liked.

1/1250, f/8, ISO 250, 500 f/4

Some of the neck feathers are difficult to reach so they go through some strange contortions in an effort to get to them.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4

Here the eye was half closed but I was still able to get a catch light.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4

I missed a catch light in this shot but I still liked the interesting pose and the good look at the red on the top of the head.

1/2000, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4

A mini wing-stretch…

1/1600, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4

and then a vigorous shake at the end of grooming to rearrange all the feathers.

1/1600, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4

And finally, what looks like an enthusiastic yawn although I’m fairly sure that it was actually an early attempt at regurgitating a pellet.

I spent over 25 minutes photographing this beautiful and accommodating male – an unusual treat for me. And he even chose a natural and attractive perch rather than the ugly post or wire that is the usual choice of the species. Good bird!

Ron

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Just A Shot That I Like… #12, American Avocet Ballet

Ron Dudley — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 16:03:49 +0000

Occasionally an image still appeals to me despite significant imperfections. In this shot the cluttered background is not ideal nor are the specular highlights on the leg of the male’s reflection but I quite like the positions of both birds, their reflections and the good separation between the avocets and the reflections.

1/1250, f/10, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

Fighting avocets are very difficult to photograph because typically several male combatants are separated from each other by some distance and you never know which bird is going to go after another one next and when the action begins it is blindingly fast. There’s also the problem of getting enough shutter speed and depth of field for multiple birds in action. Shooting these birds fighting is nearly always a “poke and hope” situation.

Setting the scene: I had been photographing four males fighting over a single female (sexes easily identifiable because the female has a shorter and more strongly recurved bill than does the male) when this male lifted off and attacked two other males just out of frame to the right. I just happened to catch the male in a good position over the female with reflections I liked. One of the things that made this shot work is that I had enough light to use f/10 for sufficient depth of field and still get a fast enough (just barely) shutter speed to get both birds relatively sharp.

Ron

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Peregrine Falcon Feeding Behavior (graphic)

Ron Dudley — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:51:50 +0000

The Peregrine Falcon has always been a nemesis bird for me. I’ve occasionally seen them far off, either in flight or perched, but have never been able to get close to one. All that changed last week when I spent an incredible half hour very close to a young bird while it was feeding on a female Northern Shoveler.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that there was no LIGHT! DAMMITALL! It was heavily overcast with only a bright spot in the clouds to mark the position of the sun. As usual, this kind of situation requires lots of compromises between shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, motion blur, catch lights, ad infinitum… So compromise I did but I still got many feeding behavior images I find interesting. And since one of the primary focuses of this blog is bird behaviors, you guessed it – a blog post…

First – a warning. Some of these photos are graphic. Proceed with caution if your sensitivities are fragile.

1/250, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

As I first approached this falcon it was depluming the duck. At times feathers were flying everywhere but at these shutter speeds and apertures many of those shots ended up in the delete bin. At this point I was still using the 1.4 teleconverter but the bird soon let me approach close enough that I was able to ditch the tc and get slightly more shutter speed.

Take visual note of the size of the crop in this image when the falcon has just begun to feed so you can compare it to the size of the crop in some of the later photos. Here it is mostly empty.

1/400, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4

Occasionally another potentially threatening bird would come along (ravens, harriers etc) and the falcon would pause and look up warily. In some of those shots I was able to get some light in the eye.

1/320, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4

The falcon seemed not to be disturbed by my presence (shooting from inside my pickup) but when another vehicle or a predatory bird would come along it became nervous. Several times, as in the photo above, it dragged the duck to a slightly more protected spot – in this case, behind this slight hill and rock.

1/400, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4

In this photo the falcon has begun to remove the intestines before consuming the rest of the duck. The peregrine had pulled and stretched the small intestine trying to remove it and in the process the intestine snapped, leaving a couple of coils of it looped over its beak.

I’ve long been interested in the tendency of many raptors to reject the intestines of their prey which on some levels seems counterproductive to survival. I won’t go into that discussion again now but if you’re interested I’ve broached the subject in this American Kestrel post. The falcon was very intent and deliberate in trying to make sure that all of the intestines had been removed, as you’re about to see.