In two of my recent posts readers met the male and female individually but in this series we see them interacting as a pair, including mating. Some of these photos are of documentary quality only but as readers know I love documenting bird behaviors.
1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
Early in the morning five days ago I photographed this mated pair of Red-tailed Hawks in the early stages of their nesting activities. The slightly larger female is on the left, the male on the right. While I was with them they spent their time hanging out together, refurbishing their nest and mating.
1/2000, f/9, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in
By the time I took this photo I had moved my pickup to a slightly different spot on the road below them so I’d have a better shooting angle for flight shots when they eventually took off in the direction I expected them to go. From this angle I never did get a catch light in the female’s eye.
I read these respective postures differently. The female on the left looks like she’s content to stay on her perch for a while but the male is looking intently at the far distance as if he’s planning his next trip to look for nesting material. And that’s exactly what happened with both birds.
She stayed put but the male took off to gather nesting material. Naturally I missed the photos of the male’s takeoff. Bird photographers have to pay attention or we miss the best action!
1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 800, 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 barely budged on her rocky perch while she watched the male foraging for twigs and delivering one of them to the nest.
1/2500, f/6.3, 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
But suddenly from the posture of her head and her intent gaze I could tell she was now even more interested in “something” out there. I could only guess what it was. I wondered if she might be planning to take off and join her mate in gathering nesting material or if she was watching him flying in to join her again. I didn’t dare to take my eye off the viewfinder to find out for fear of missing something once again.
As it turned out the male had l’amour on his mind and I suspect she did too.
1/2000, f/6.3, 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
Suddenly the male appeared in the frame. I expected him to land next to her but he had something else in mind.
1/2000, f/6.3, 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 attempted to land on top of her for mating purposes but her back was an unstable perch and they both struggled to get the job done. Here it looks like she’s done a face plant.
I took 49 photos of them as they mated but they had their backs to me the entire time so all of them look similar to this one – just a jumble of legs, feathers and bungholes. Here we can actually see the cloacal opening of the female as they struggled to complete the “cloacal kiss”.
1/2500, f/6.3, 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
Almost immediately after mating the male flew off to work on the nest again. The female stayed put for a while before taking off to join him.
My takeoff and flight shots of her can be seen here if you have the interest and didn’t see them in my previous post.
Ron
Great!
Great series. The “faceplant” photo made me wince then laugh!
Thanks, Arwen. Lots of the photos I took of them mating were similar to that.
Beautiful pair. Great shots and lucky timing. Thanks Ron!
Thank you, Jean.
Exquisite series! …and wonderful story-line. I only comment occasionally, but I’ve started watching for your blog every day to learn about wild-life photography, birds and the beauty of nature all around us. Thanks!
Glad to know you’re hanging in the wings, Steve. Thanks.
Thanks for introducing them them to us.
“ ….legs, feathers and bungholes.” That got me laughing. Should have been the title of the post.
“Should have been the title of the post”
I actually thought about doing that, Lyle. I really did. But I was afraid I’d catch some flack for being so crass as to use it in my text so I didn’t want to make it worse by using it in my title.
What a cool series, although I feel a little bit like a certain Magpie right now. 😉
Echoing Marty. On both counts.
; they spent their time hanging out together, refurbishing their nest and mating’ – and they don’t even have a stay in place order!.
EC, I imagine they’ll be ranging far and wide before too long when they’re trying to find enough prey to keep their youngsters satisfied.
Yes, the ice voyeur.
Ooof! That face plant—poor lady hawk! But what wonderful pictures, such beautiful subjects (in their matching environment)— and again, really looking forward to seeing your shots of their brood when fledging season rolls around and we’re all free to move about the country. (I hope!)
I can only hope they fledge some youngsters, Chris. With that light colored rock directly behind their nest (seen in a previous post) their nest has to be hot as hell in the late spring mornings. I hope the chicks don’t cook.
Nice series, I hope they have young this year!
Thanks, April. Me too.
Wow, what an outstanding series. Definitely no post mating cuddling. Ok, that’s done, now back to business.
That pretty much sums it up, Everett.
Fantastic series, Ron!
You continue to provide documentation of behaviors most birders aren’t patient enough to observe. (Oooh, a bird-in-flight! Clickety, clickety, clickety …)
Hope you had no adverse effects from the tremors!
Thank you, Wally. I didn’t even feel yesterday’s Idaho quake but we’re still having aftershocks from our recent tremblor. There have been over 700 of them so far, thankfully most of them small.
Love is in the with our feathered friends 😁
My favorite is still the eagles mating on the ice❗️
Take Care All
You too, Diana.
Wonderful series, Ron, of beautiful birds. 🙂 “Mooning” you……. 😉 Nasty spring storm last evening/night – 4 to 5″ for us – maybe with blow – more up towards Ft. Benton. Roads a mess. Did you feel the earthquake in ID? We didn’t but some in GF did was well as west of the divide…….
Judy, I didn’t feel it but a few folks in the valley did. I have friends who lived most of their lives in Alaska and now live in Boise. They said it really rocked them and reminded them of some of the AK quakes they experienced over the years.
At least it wasn’t like the last “Big One” in AK!