Prairie Falcon – A Nemesis Resolved

Every avian photographer has their “nemesis birds” – a species or two that the gods of photography have foiled any and every attempt at getting quality images of.  For me the Prairie Falcon has been at or near the top of that list.   I particularly love to photograph raptors but locating and then getting close to this falcon in good light has eluded me for five years now.  But two days ago I resolved that dilemma! 

 

 1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 1.4 tc

We first spotted this bird coming towards us along the Antelope Island causeway just as the sun peeked over the Wasatch.  It soon landed on this stump and in good light but I wasn’t quite as close to the bird as I’d like to have been.  Soon it lifted off and hunted the causeway going west, causing quite a ruckus among the gulls, shorebirds and ducks as it approached them.  It was fairly easy to track the falcon by watching for groups of panicked birds taking to the air. 

 

 

1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 1.4 tc

Next it landed on this interesting rock and I was able to get a little closer.  The background is a little funky with the harsh color transition between water and rocky shoreline passing through the bird but I liked the perch and the good look at the entire bird, including tail. 

I suspect that this falcon has learned the fine art of thievery.  Earlier this week we observed a Prairie Falcon along the causeway chase off a Peregrine Falcon from its Ruddy Duck prey (an unlikely scenario I know but I watched it happen) and I’ve seen another report this week of a Prairie Falcon along the causeway stealing prey from a Northern Harrier.  My suspicion is that it’s likely to be the same bird in both cases.   

 

 

 1/2000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 1.4 tc

This falcon would repeatedly find a perch to rest on for a few minutes and then fly further west along the causeway.   Each time I was able to get closer to the bird but here and in the previous photo I was shooting between rabbitbrush bushes along the roadside and couldn’t be too picky about the background.  In this shot the rock perch is in the shade from the road and the light on the bird only reaches down to its belly.  I actually kind of liked the effect.  There’s a broken feather in disarray on the right wing. 

 

 

   1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 800, 1.4 tc

This is the same perch as in the previous image but the shooting angle is different and I was able to get much closer to the falcon so the detail is significantly better and there’s only water for background.  The shade/light transition hasn’t quite reached the feet of the bird.  I haven’t had “buck fever” when shooting a bird for a long time but I had it here and made some mistakes in my settings.  I didn’t need such high shutter speeds for a perched bird and probably should have been at ISO 500.  I was so close I had to shoot vertically (should have taken the teleconverter off) and when it took off I missed some nice shots because I clipped the wings and other body parts. 

During winter the preferred prey of Prairie Falcons is Horned Larks and Western Meadowlarks.  Antelope Island abounds in both species and also has the steep cliffs that these birds require so the island is ideal habitat for them.  However there are relatively few larks along the causeway this time of year which is another reason that I think this bird may have learned the advantages of stealing prey from other raptors.  Just my theory…

Ron