Yesterday was the first time I’ve been able to photograph mating buteos in the wild.
We were driving along a dirt road in the mountains of Tooele County when we spotted two adult Red-tailed Hawks perched next to each other on top of a juniper tree on a hilltop high above us. By the time I got the pickup stopped and my lens out the window one of the birds was in the air and I didn’t know which hawk to focus on – the one already in flight or the other one for take-off shots.
But very soon that decision was made for me as the male in flight came back in to mate with the waiting female who had never left the tree.
She hunkered down and waited for him to land on her back.
Which he did.
Here the red tail of the female is twisted to the side to allow copulation.
The actual act was very quick.
Immediately after mating the male lifted his wings…
and vacated the premises. Here, except for part of her tail the female is almost completely hidden.
But the male wasn’t through yet…
The female remained on the perch and to my surprise the male returned nine minutes later for another go at it.
Note: you may notice a slight change in perspective here because by now I had driven about 40′ down the road to try to improve the light angle a bit. Here the incoming male isn’t very sharp because I was focused on the female.
At first it seemed that the previous scenario was about to replay itself.
But this was as close as the male got to landing on her back. For some reason at this point he…
changed his mind and flew off without mating with her a second time.
Here one of the hawks is soaring overhead after both of them had left the juniper.
Due to poor light angles, the perch being high above me and in some cases “operator error”, the quality of many these images is mediocre but I was able to document a behavior that was new to me as a photographer and I couldn’t be happier about that.
Ron
I am really impressed that you were able to get such great still photos of copulation behavior. Last spring my husband got some good video of the nesting kestrels in our neighbors’ yard, but I could never have gotten any stills.
How long did the actual act last with these Red-Tails? I had the fortune to shoot a pair of mating Common Black-hawks two weeks ago and it only took 12 seconds so I can appreciate how little time you had to make these shots.
For anyone interested in the Black-hawks one of the shots is currently featured on the Photography Life website. I was lucky they picked a bare branch to mate on.
Best wishes to the Red-tail family,
Verm
thanks Ron. I personally hate using a tripod unless some gorgeous raptor is steadily posing in a tree for me. Its difficult to understand how one can ‘get better’ at holding the camera steady with the huge lenses we use but its something I hope to do. Have any pointers? thanks in advance
Ron, great, great stuff. Really enjoy your work. Believe it or not photograph red tail hawks in Brooklyn ny quite often. I rarely have success with shutter speeds slower than 1/3200. Are you using tripod?
Thanks, c fargo. No I wasn’t (and very rarely am) using a tripod. I mostly shoot from the window of my pickup, using the vehicle as a mobile blind.
I am continually amazed at how indifferent birds seem to be to something as big, shiny and noisy as a car or truck…but they are. I often sit in my car to watch birds because they don’t seem to notice. Is it because they don’t see eyes? Because they so often see them just sitting there, unmoving, unthreatening? Makes me curious, and makes cars great “blinds”. I really like your trick of using a chunk of split “noodle” on the window to steady your camera…so simple but so effective.
Ron–Do you, or have you, ever used a “gorilla” pod? Your noodle trick probably works well enough so you don’t really need anything else…for one thing, it’s so much faster to use than time lost setting up anything more complicated.
Noticed that you didn’t publish your techs, although your shutter speed must have been relatively fast in order to capture all these “if you blinked you missed it” moments!
Mike, I just ran out of time. Techs are a pain in the butt with this many images. Shutter speed actually wasn’t very high (for me) – most of these shots were about: 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4 II, 1.4 tc.
OK! BIG DEAL! I’ve seen chickens mating MANY times!!! But forgot to take pictures, sorry! Maybe next time (if there is a next time)…,
Woo Hoo. Wham, bam and thank you will have to wait.
But a huge thank you from me to you Ron. What a privilege to see.
Glad you enjoyed them, Elephant’s Child. Thank you.
WOW Patty, did you ever hit the nail on the head with your comment!! No one could have said it any better!!
Amazing captures. Maybe he didn’t come in for a second try because you were watching them!! They were looking right at you. Just terrific captures.
I suppose anything’s possible, Ellen but I doubt it was our presence that stopped him because it didn’t stop him the first time.
Absolutely amazing! I hope they have a healthy family!
Me too, Leisa!
These are truly amazing shots! Who is ever lucky enough to witness something like this????!!!! I think the angle is perfect…can’t imagine how it could possibly be better…You, Mia, WE really lucked out on this one!!! (I DO realize that “lucked out” represents hours and hours in the field, in spite of dragging yourselves out of bed at early, early hours, driving in all kinds of conditions, on bumpy, dusty, rutted roads, sitting, patiently in heat and cold, body twisted at odd angles, dreaming of coffee or hot chocolate and donuts, waiting and waiting and waiting, wanting to scratch an itch but not daring to move, arms aching from hold up heavy equipment, etc. etc. etc….. These are all part of the successful nature photographer’s “luck”)
Yup, I’ve photographed in all those conditions, Patty. Gotta admit though, yesterday was warm, comfortable and very pleasant. Catching these birds mating was icing on the cake. Thank you.
Here’s to a nest full of healthy new red-tails!!! Glad you were able to document the event!
Whoo-hooo!
That’s how I felt, Mikal!
OK, now your life is complete Ron 😉 Well done!! Thanks for sharing…will share with all the RTH fanatics here in these parts of course!
Almost “complete”, Christine. I need a better angle on the birds while they’re mating, first. Thank you.
AMAZING !
Thanks, Bill.
Have only seen Coopers mate and so very quick. Your sequence shows a more deliberate act. Especially neat to see the males talons tucked in as he he descends to mount her.
Thanks Ron. Left me breathless.
It was SO very interesting to observe, Diana! I just wish we’d arrived on the scene a little earlier to watch the preliminaries in the air – including possible sky dancing.
Excellent job Ron! A wonderful series of a behavior that few of us are able to see! Many thanks for sharing.
It was a first time experience for me too, Dick, though I have seen kestrels mating. Thanks.
Incredible series Ron! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, Charlotte.