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 it was on the wrong side of the road for us to shoot out of the truck.  So we passed it, turned around and approached it, thinking all the while that it would spook.  It didn’t.  We photographed it for 9 minutes and it didn’t seem to care that we were there.  An adult bird would probably have been less cooperative.

 

 

 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

It spotted some potential prey (most likely a vole) in the grasses to our left and took off after it.

 

 

  1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

This may not be the most desirable wing position for a flight shot but I like the way the wings and body conform to the rocks.  It landed in the grasses but missed the vole.

 

 

  1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc

 To our surprise and delight it flew back towards us and landed on another rock much closer than it had been before it took off.

 

 

  1/2500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4

We spent another 5 minutes shooting the bird on this perch.  By the time it took off again I had taken off my tc and it’s a good thing I did.  Even so, I still clipped the wings on some images that would have been wonderful shots otherwise.

 

 

 1/2500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4

 I was able to get a few sharp shots with nothing clipped during the take-off process.

 

 

 1/2500, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4

 This image was probably my favorite of the bunch.

 

 

 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4

I always appreciate it when a bird takes off laterally to me in good light which gives more opportunities for eye contact if you can keep focus locked on.  I already have enough butt shots because of birds launching away from me…

 

 

  1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4

 This was the last image I kept of the take-off sequence.

 

 

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

I thought the hawk had taken off to do some hunting from the air but it was a very hot morning (as you can see from the position of the wings) and I think it just wanted to find a higher perch to hunt from without having to fly, so it landed on this elevated rock further from the road.  After 6 minutes on this perch it took off…

 

 

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

and proceeded to hunt from the air, though it never did come particularly close to us in flight.

I mentioned “double serendipity” in my title.  I was referring to the hawk using the dark rocks as its perch (which I’ve wanted for so long) and to the fact that this bird let us get so very close and then came even closer to us on the second perch.

My favorite definition of serendipity is “to look for a needle in a haystack and get out of it with the farmer’s daughter”.   Perhaps I’m just getting old but I’ll take a good photo opportunity with a raptor over the farmer’s daughter any old day of the week…

Ron