Diurnal Raptors – Page 78 – Feathered Photography

Montana Prairie Falcons And Hordes of Grasshoppers

I learned something last week in Montana’s Centennial Valley – Prairie Falcons eat insects.

In the past I’ve only seen them eat birds and small mammals and cursory research had backed up that observation but if you dig a little deeper in your research (Birds of North America Online, for example) you’ll find mention of lizards and insects being included in their diet. My friend (master falconer) Mark Runnels says that “Prairie Falcons will eat anything. In really bad years I have even heard of them feeding on carrion. You’ll never see a Peregrine do that!”

A Red-tailed Bon Voyage

Typically I don’t have high hopes of getting any decent shots during the almost 30 mile drive on a dirt/gravel road from our usual camping spot to the first paved road. Imagine if you can the noise, the dust and the bird-scattering spectacle of my pickup and camping trailer rattling down the rocky road – a situation not conducive to getting anywhere near spooky birds.

Northern Harrier Gaining Altitude

This hawk was attempting to gain altitude, thus the angled body with the wing raised high.

Prairie Falcon On A Frosty Rock

With all the incredibly hot weather we’ve had for most of the last few weeks I was ready to post something that reminded me that it really can get cold around here…

Male American Kestrel In Dramatic Light

In order to escape some severe wind this male American Kestrel chose to perch very low to the ground at the base of a large cottonwood tree. He was mostly in deep shade but occasionally the effect of the wind on the tree would put some dappled light on him.

Osprey In Flight With Trout

Just over six weeks ago I spent some time photographing a mated pair of Ospreys at Flaming Gorge in northeast Utah. At the time they were incubating eggs and they alternated time on the nest. When one of the birds was incubating the other one spent most of its time hunting, eating and preening.

Red-tailed Hawks – Creatures Of Habit

Last summer (these first two photos were taken July 22, 2012) I photographed this mated pair of Red-tailed Hawks in western Montana. On most mornings and some evenings I could almost count on finding them perched in the same old snag and even on the same branch of the dead tree.

Earlier this month on my first Montana camping trip I found the same mated pair on the same perch (male at bottom, female up top).

Swainson’s Hawk In Full Flight

In Montana (and elsewhere I presume) orange paint on fence posts is used to mark private property and prevent trespass and hunting without permission on private lands. Apparently some land owners are color blind and use red paint instead of orange but the universally understood message is still the same – stay out!

Not all of the posts are so-marked (perhaps 10%?) but the birds I photograph sure have a nasty habit of choosing those ugly posts to perch on when I’m trying to photograph them. Such was the case with this Swainson’s Hawk a few days ago in western Montana.

Ferruginous Hawk Chicks – Twelve Days Later

We arrived home from our latest foray into western Montana yesterday afternoon – earlier than planned due to uncooperative weather and (to some extent) birds. Those issues are just part of the game when you’re a bird photographer but I’m sure we’ll try again several more times this summer and early fall. We still had a great time, saw some wonderful new and wild country, reacquainted with an old friend (and met a new one who now lives in Alaska but graduated from the same Salt Lake City High School where I was a teacher for 18 years – small world!) and reveled as we always do in our time spent in Big Sky Country. And I did get a few shots that I like that I’ll be posting soon. This post is for documentary purposes only – no aesthetics involved. In a completely unplanned manner (long story) we ended up spending a few minutes at the Ferruginous Hawk nest that I posted about here from our last Montana trip. I thought some of you might like to see how the chicks are coming along. This is one of the images from that earlier post – taken on June 6, 2013. Here are the same birds 12 days later, June 18, 2003. As you can see, the kids are growing up – and quickly! We had no choice but to be there at mid-day so the birds are side lit by very harsh light but I still think the comparison between the two images gives the viewer a good idea of how much development occurs in…

Another Ferruginous Hawk Nest With Chicks

Last week I posted images of a Ferruginous Hawk nest with chicks in Montana. I actually photographed two of them. These chicks were slightly older than those in my first post.

Swainson’s Hawk Buddies

On the evening of our last full day in Montana we spotted a couple of Swainson’s Hawks engaging in a playful dogfight down the road in front of us. As we got closer they hopscotched from post to post but allowed me to get fairly close for a few minutes.

Why The Cloning Tool Can Be Such A Temptress

This Red-tailed Hawk image from last week in Montana is an example of what I’m nearly always hoping to get when I’m on a perched raptor while it’s facing away from me and about to take off. 99+% of the time all you’ll get is a butt shot but if you’re extremely (and I do mean extremely) lucky you’ll get a nice look back from the bird as it banks, a widely flared and beautiful tail, good light on the entire dorsal surface, light in the eye and maybe even something interesting in the background other than featureless sky. And this time there was the bonus of a small falling feather below the left foot (something I like but others may find distracting).

Chasing The Light For A Swainson’s Hawk

Mia and I often joke with each other that we’d make terrible landscape photographers because we’d be bored by all the waiting around for ideal conditions such as dramatic clouds and perfect light. We much prefer the excitement, unpredictability and the occasional and unexpected delights of bird photography. This Swainson’s Hawk was one of those nice surprises.

Ferruginous Hawk With Chicks

At the end of one of those very long, rough and dusty drives we came upon this Ferruginous Hawk on a nest. We’d spotted the nest on a previous day but could only see the top of the bird’s head as it hunkered down so at the time we didn’t know what species the occupant was.

American Kestrel With Snake Prey

Anyone who follows my blog knows that I observe and photograph kestrels often but I’ve never before seen one with snake prey. In my experience it’s always been voles, mice, small birds or (less often) insects. When we first noticed this bird it already had the snake on this bush perch.

Category: Diurnal Raptors