In my experience there’s a huge range in the approachability of juvenile raptors, even among siblings. And overall, Swainson’s Hawks seem to be the most approachable of all. This variability was demonstrated during our trip to Montana’s Centennial Valley last week and once again it made me nervous for the safety of the bird.
1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM @ 135mm, not baited, set up or called in
For several days running we found one adult parent and two juvenile Swainson’s Hawks along the same stretch of dirt road at the east end of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. All three birds were fairly approachable but this juvenile in particular took that trait to extremes. Typically it would perch at eye level on the fence posts running within a few feet of the road and wouldn’t even flinch as I drove by (usually to turn around and come back for a better light angle). Often I would park on the far side of the road while photographing this hawk and even another vehicle (sometimes loud diesel trucks raising huge dust plumes) passing between me and the bird on the road wouldn’t flush the hawk. There were times when I wondered just how close this bird would allow me to get but I never did experiment with it.
All this explains why this image looks different from most of my other similar shots. Even though the background is far away there’s still discernible detail back there because I was only shooting at 135 mm instead of the 700mm (500mm lens + 1.4 tc) that I most often use for shots like this. My typical rig would have softened the background bokeh to the point that there would have been no detail back there at all. This kind of image appeals to some but others may find the background to be somewhat distracting from the bird. Personally I often like the effect because it provides a nice sense of habitat.
It always makes me just a little bit nervous for the safety of the bird when I find a young raptor that is apparently as “tame” as this one – there’s just too many low-brows “out there” who can’t resist shooting at anything that grabs their attention if they think they can get away with it.
Hell, they can’t even resist shooting at road signs…
Ron
Note: In this image the hawk is more centered in the frame than I like but I have no more room on the right.
Beautiful, beautiful image!!, Perfection!
What a wonderful shot! And speaking as one who lives in Florida, I love the background.
Thank you, Scott.
Britches it is. Beautiful, elegant britches. I do hope that this bird gets over the invincible courage of youth. And love that he showed some (possibly accidental) good judgement in the person he chose for his portrait shots.
I figured you might appreciate those britches, Elephant’s Child.
This is one gorgeous bird, and one of the few hawks I see with some regularity. I don’t find the background distracting because the bird is so clearly in a different plane from the background. The way you got this shot, the bird looks three-dimensional, while the background is two-dimensional, so there’s (for me) really no competition between the two.
Good point about the dimensional aspects, Susan. I agree. Thank you.
Ron, did you remain in the car for this shot, or did you get out of the car and steady the camera by hand? Tripod? Manual or auto settings? thanks, Ellen
Ellen, as is usual for me I was shooting from my pickup window, in aperture priority.
I really like the coloring in this picture. The subtle colors of the background seems to enhance the sandy coloring.
I like the colors too, Arwen – especially with this “butterscotch” bird. Thank you.
Sensational shot Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Wonderful shot. The background does not distract me at all. In fact it gives me a sense of reality. And thank you for telling us how you got it.
I learn a lot from your explanations.
Thanks very much, Jorge. I especially appreciate your feedback regarding “explanations and how I got it”.
I really like the shot just as it is, and the background adds a great deal, so far as I’m concerned. For some reason I’m especially taken with the soft leg plumage. I don’t think I’ve ever seen its luxuriance quite so clearly before. I can understand your concern about its tameness, and appreciate your not going closer than you did. Not helpful reinforce its trust that nothing would happen when all it takes is one person with more firepower than brains to do real harm.
“all it takes is one person with more firepower than brains to do real harm”. Well said, Alison.
Elephant’s Child would call that leg plumage “britches” (a term that appeals to me too) – she’s quite fond of them.