Yesterday morning I was able to get my first decent Rough-legged Hawk images of the season. It’s a good thing too because this was the only cooperative bird I found all morning.
1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
We’ve had a “wind event” here along the Wasatch Front for the last couple of days (up to 80 mph) and even though those canyon winds were a bit subdued by the time they reached Antelope Island they were still blowing hard enough that most birds were hunkered down. But as we left the island we found two Rough-legged Hawks playing in the wind along the causeway. The darker bird escaped the attention of my lens but this light morph came in close enough for some pretty good shots.
1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
It was late enough in the morning (10:31 am) that it was difficult to get light under the wings…
1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
until the hawk began to bank away from me. I was able to get two very similar shots with light underneath…
1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in
before the bird was too far past me. In many of the images I had a good look at the diagnostic dark carpal patches and belly band.
Birds are still incredibly slow on the island and have been for months. I’ve never seen it so slow for so long in the five years I’ve been photographing there. I sure hope it picks up soon…
Ron
I can barely tell the difference between the last two images…except for tiny differences in the tail feathers…your camera must have incredibly fast recovery between shots. Mine’s as slow as molasses going uphill on a cold day.
Beautiful bird and great shots. Crisp and clear. I hope it picks up soon too, as this is the time of year we venture north to Farmington Bay for weekend bird trips. Not too familiar with antelope island but would like to learn more about it and venture there more. Would love to be able to go and watch and photograph the borrowing owls there.
Wish we had Rough-legged Hawks in our skies! Fantastic raptor! Great photographs, Ron! Hope your wind abates and your birds fill the air.
Your slow bird day has made my heart sing.
I think I can almost hear the tune, Elephants Child…
Just gorgeous! Now I think I’d be able to identify this bird if it were flying over me… Identifying hawks is not my strong suit, but it’s worth learning because they are such wonderful birds.
Good, I’m glad you could ID them now, Susan. I hope you see one soon!
There are some who want to find an accurate as possible count of winter populations of waterfowl resting in large rafts. With 100+ years of data from Christmas Bird Counts, biologists have been able to determine population fluctuations of various species. His method of counting large rafts of ducks on water just adds to the database, with more accuracy than estimates in the past. He also is a pilot and flies over large congregations of geese and does the same thing over land or water.
I don’t have the patience or interest to do that, but we need people like that to help the database and to add to our bird population knowledge.
I wouldn’t have the patience to do that either, Dick, but I’m sure glad somebody does. It provides valuable information.
According to Ian Worley, who has perfected counting from photographs, the pictures on a specific body of water are stitched together and enlarged so that individual birds can be silhouetted, identified and counted. Pains taking for sure, but as accurate as humanly possible. The other way is to use a counter and click off the birds as one scopes them preferably from some height so the view isn’t flat.
Thank you for the explanation, Dick. Sounds like a pain in the patoot but if one wants to know badly enough…
Ron — great shots! I didn’t even go out because of this insane wind….maybe today though if you are. I bet you noticed anyway, but check out the 2 retained outer primries and few secondaries that are juvenile feathers…makes it a bird in its first adult plumage (only accurate way to tell second-year birds). And thank you for mentioning my blog as one you follow!
Jerry, I hadn’t noticed – thanks for pointing it out. I simply don’t know my plumages very well – one of the reasons I refer to your blog (and your books) often. I’m stuck in the house today – been having internet problems and the Comcast guy is supposed to be here sometime around noon.
Hi again Ron,
Just saw this article about a photographer getting $1.2 million copyright violation award. Two media companies took his Haiti earthquake images from twitter.
Here’s a link if interested http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/11/22/us-media-copyright-twitter-idUSBRE9AL16F20131122
I thought about your copyright post. Hope it’s not inappropriate to post a link….if so, I apologize in advance
Bill
Thanks for the link, Bill. And posting a link in your comment is generally perfectly appropriate.
I’d actually seen that link previously. I belong to a FB Copyright Infringement group and that link was posted there. I was particularly happy to see the media outlets that infringed on this guys images take a hit because a California newspaper has done the same thing with one of my images. My IP (intellectual property) attorney is involved with that situation right now.
Gorgeous, a favorite of mine!! I was birding w/my camera handy yesterday, and came across 5 Roughies, BUT they were all teed up either in the middle of a pasture/meadow or a hedge roe where I couldn’t get a good shot. Had to be satisfied with about 3400 Bluebills, 90% lesser to try to use my shot to get an accurate count of the raft.
Love these shots Ron, many thanks for sharing and thanks for yesterday’s info on sharpness, much appreciated.
Dick, I wish I knew how to make those counts accurately with that many birds. Thank you.
Wow! Great shots. I really like that 2nd one. It has plenty of light for me to enjoy viewing it.
Thanks and hope the birding picks up for you, I need to see these pics…..
Bill
I hope so too, Bill. Thank you.