If You Want To Photograph Raptors In Flight Learn To Anticipate Their Takeoff

December 6, 2017 December 6, 2017

Readers know that occasionally I rerun an older blog post because many current readers have never seen it. I originally published on this subject over four years ago (9/26/13) but for this version I’ve added four images, rewritten much of the text, added new information and cleaned up the formatting. For many of us winter is “raptor season” so I thought this would be an appropriate time for an update. For readers who have seen some of this before, a “review” just might be helpful.

I’ve said before that one of the skills that can be of immense value to the bird photographer (and of interest to birders of every persuasion) is the ability to predict when your subject is about to take off. Flight shots are often easiest to get immediately after take-off but even then they’re still a huge challenge. It’s much easier to keep the bird in the frame and in focus during flight if you can anticipate when it’s about to take off. Camera settings can also be changed at the last second so they are more appropriate for a bird in flight than when it’s perched.

If one of your goals is to photograph raptors in flight remember this if you remember nothing else from this post:

Once you’ve locked focus on a perched bird it’s much easier to maintain focus as it’s taking off and in flight than it is to acquire focus after they’re already airborne.

Many raptors give hints when they’re about to launch. Here’s a few signs I’ve learned to watch for:

defecation
turning on the perch to face into the breeze
a raptor at ease will often stand on one foot. When they put that foot down and suddenly look more alert takeoff may be imminent
crouching down. This posture allows them to more effectively push-off with their legs
rousing – when a bird lifts its feathers and then shakes them back into place
stretching

Stretching is one of the easiest to miss, not because we don’t see it but because the behavior makes them look so relaxed that imminent take-off generally doesn’t come to mind. But a raptor that has been perched for a while often needs to stretch its wings in preparation for the strenuous and athletic act of take-off, just as a human athlete stretches before an event. In my experience a perched raptor that has recently flown is unlikely to stretch just before take-off because it doesn’t need to “limber up”.

Following are several examples where stretching immediately preceded lift-off to illustrate my point.

1/1600, f/7.1. ISO 500, not baited, set up or called in

I photographed this Swainson’s Hawk perched on a fence post for 16 minutes and during that time it regurgitated two pellets which may have been part of the reason that it was so “sticky” for so long. I believe it knew it was about to cast a pellet so it was reluctant to take off before it did so.

1/1600, f/7.1. ISO 500, not baited, set up or called in

Soon after it spewed the pellets it turned into the breeze on its perch and did a wing-stretch which indicated to me that take-off could be imminent (falconers call this kind of double wing stretch over the back a “warble”).

1/2000, f/7.1. ISO 500, not baited, set up or called in

Very soon after the stretch it took off but the bird turned slightly away from me and the head is partially shaded.

1/2500, f/5.6. ISO 640, not baited, set up or called in

I found this adult Red-tailed Hawk and its mate perched in their favorite tree and photographed them for seven minutes before this one stretched its wings and then…

1/2500, f/5.6. ISO 640, not baited, set up or called in

abruptly took off.

1/1250, f/7.1. ISO 640, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

I approached this Northern Harrier as it warmed in the sun on a cold winter morning. When it began to stretch its right wing and foot (falconers call this kind of single wing stretch while balancing on one leg and stretching the other a “mantle”) I suspected it was about to take off but I was faced with a dilemma. The hawk was perched on the ground at the base of a tall bank of vegetation that allows take-off only in my direction. The problem was that I had my tc (teleconverter) on which meant that I would likely be too close to avoid clipping or cutting off the extended wings as it got closer to me in flight.

I just knew that if I took the time to remove the tc I’d miss the take-off so I took a chance and left it on.

1/1250, f/7.1. ISO 640, 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in

I got lucky and didn’t clip anything but the bird is too tight in the frame for good composition and with that background I can’t realistically add canvas (which I prefer not to do anyway).