Recently I semi-promised not to post any more Red-tailed Hawks for a while but when sex is involved promises are often broken. Today’s post is no exception.
Yesterday, for a variety of reasons, a long morning looking for birds yielded only one good result – mating Red-tailed Hawks. I only rarely get a chance at photographing mating raptors so at the risk of disappointing readers who were anticipating some species variety today I decided to post images of red-tails once again.
1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
The female was perched high up on this rocky ledge but I was looking somewhere else when the male swooped in so sadly I missed his approach shots. He actually landed on her back. I got dozens of photos of the mating but many were similar or had other issues so I’m only including two shots of the actual act. The birds weren’t particularly close to me but I thought it was a wonderful setting for the encounter.
1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
As is often the case they struggled to get the job done. Bodies were intertwined in such a way that it was often difficult to tell which tail belonged to which bird. At one point the male appeared to be about to give up but they both persevered and eventually succeeded.
1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
When it was over the male exited stage right and climbed the rocky slope next to the original perch.
1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
The female continued to hold her tail in the air for some time after his exit. The male surveyed his kingdom from this slightly higher perch for a few moments and then…
1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
flew a short distance to the right and immediately began to search for nesting material to deliver to the nest under construction. He was so close to the female during his search I had to wonder if he was deliberately attempting to show her that he was a worthy recipient of her amorous attention.
He’s about to pick up the long, thin twig directly in front of his left foot.
1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
He then carried that twig to the nest. This isn’t a great photo but it does demonstrate the behavior and I enjoy the way his shadow has fallen directly on the rock below. I have better shots of these birds in flight with nesting material but I include this one because he’s carrying the twig he picked up immediately after mating.
1/3200, f/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Here one of the birds is leaving the partially built nest after just such a delivery.
I feel honored to witness these intimate behaviors of birds, raptors in particular, but I’m always certain not to disturb them. In this case the nest is close to a road so the hawks are acclimated to vehicles, I was photographing from my pickup parked on the side of the road (I never got out of it), I was shooting with a super telephoto lens at an effective 1120mm and these images are all cropped significantly. These hawks weren’t the least bit uncomfortable with my presence.
If either bird had shown any sign of nervousness I’d have left the area immediately. The photo is never worth disturbing birds, nesting birds especially.
Ron
Hi Ron, thanks again for sharing these. Can you tell us how much cropping you had to do? Cause these are still super sharp in spite of the significant cropping you did.
Elmer, the mating birds were cropped to 45% of the original image (9mp of 20mp). Some of the others were cropped a little less than that.
Beautiful Red Tails. Hope you keep tabs of the nest, and are able to photograph eyas’s as they grow. We had that pleasure a few years back. We watched them grow, and fly the coop. Fascinating! Thanks Ron.
Thanks, Jean. I hope to.
What an incredible privilege to see. Fingers and toes crossed that the hatching is successful and that they raise more red-tails for you to break promises with.
Ha, loved your last line, EC!
I love how respectful you are of the birds….blessings for the
lovely photos.
Thank you, Karen.
These are most excellent photos! Am amazed not only that they would engage in this behavior so close to a road, but that they would build their nest nearby, too. They must trust that you and others aren’t going to bring them any harm. Will be so exciting if they do actually raise a family there …. Thanks for the week of (mostly) Red-tails, Ron!
Chris, another red-tailed nest in the area is now under construction on a pole within about 20 feet of an even busier road. Some of them become highly acclimated to vehicles and traffic.
What, no NSFW warning?! 😉 The “action position” seems so unwieldy, I’m surprised he didn’t just slide right off. I especially like the nest-building shots. I mean, if he’s only gonna give her 30 seconds, he’d better be good around the house.
Big smile and good point, Marty!
Marty is so very right. Good around the house in always desirable – in any species.
Great series! Like the way you ended it with the nest building…Now let’s hope the baby raising is successful…..
Fingers crossed, Patty. Thanks.
My favorite image is the last…with bird, nestvand shadow (foreshadowing of things to come?)…
Super behavioral shots Ron!
Charlotte
Thanks, Charlotte.
Great series of images and post Ron!
Picture 3 and 4: Female – YOUR LEAVING? YOUR DONE?
Sorry, just my humor!
Ha, that’s funny, Dick. But in reality the mating lasted for about 30 seconds – for birds that seems like pretty good sexual stamina! 🙂
Wonderful series, Ron. 🙂 The mating perch and the background for the last photo really make the photo’s………:)
I love both settings too. Thank you, Judy.
I especially like the last photo with the rocky backdrop highlighting the dark upper side and light underside of the wings in flight. Together with the bird’s shadow it gives quite a 3D effect.
I agree about the 3D effect. Thanks, Gail.