Diurnal Raptors – Page 81 – Feathered Photography

Harlan’s Hawk

Harlan’s Hawk is today considered to be a sub-species of the Red-tailed Hawk but its classification has a colorful history as it has twice been considered a separate species and twice as a race of the Red-tailed Hawk. The controversy continues today as several “experts” lobby to have the Harlan’s reinstated as a distinct species. In 1831 John James Audubon originally named this bird Harlan’s Buzzard, after his good friend Dr. Richard Harlan of Philadelphia. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Harlan’s Hawks are quite similar to western Red-tailed Hawks but typically they are “colder/blacker” in overall color, with the tendency toward dusky-white tails in the ventral view. At rest, wing tips are obviously shorter than tail tips (easily seen here) and their breasts are variably streaked with white. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in In this view you can make out another identifying feature – the barring to the tips of the wing primaries (most easily seen here in the left wing). Harlan’s Hawks are found in Alaska and northern Canada but winter in the western United States and the Great Plains. I’ve had very few (if any) photo opportunities with them but found this juvenile (light eye) two days ago at Farmington Bay. I’m always delighted to photograph a “new” bird, particularly when it’s a raptor. Ron

Rough-legged Hawk Mantling, Then Take-off

My encounter with this Rough-legged Hawk was a frustrating one. It all began with a Northern Harrier on the snow-covered ground with prey (which turned out to be a Pied-billed Grebe) . It was quite far away, even if my tc had been attached (it wasn’t), so I put my pickup in gear to drive further down the road. Just then this hawk swooped in from behind (I couldn’t see it coming) to pilfer the prey from the harrier. By the time I got the pickup turned off and my tc attached the action between the two raptors was over – the harrier had vamoosed with the head of the grebe (based on the photos Mia was able to get) and the roughie was on the ground with what was left. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Here the hawk is “mantling” the grebe. Mantling is a behavior of raptors where they spread their wings, fan their tail and arch their body over their prey – effectively hiding it from other predators, particularly other raptors. In this image the tail isn’t completely fanned and the bird is looking back at us rather than arching its body. There’s a patch of blood on the snow and you can see part of the grebe under the right wing. 1/5000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in The hawk quickly gobbled down what was left of the grebe, inspected the…

Birds Dealing With Snow And Cold

Birds use a variety of tactics to deal with the harsh conditions presented by an unusually cold and snowy winter. Some are more effective than others. I thought it might be interesting to see a few of them that I’ve been able to photograph in the last several weeks. My usual disclaimer for posts relating to behaviors; many of these images are technically lacking but I think they do illustrate some of the conditions these birds are having to cope with. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light After a fresh snow, the food source for many small birds is largely hidden and unavailable without some extraordinary measures. This juvenile White-crowned Sparrow, and others in the flock, were flitting from one snow-covered perch to another in an obvious attempt at knocking the snow off so they could get to the seeds underneath. Here you can see the snow falling away and immediately afterward the sparrow fed on the uncovered seeds. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in When it gets very cold most water sources freeze up completely which makes fish largely inacessable to Bald Eagles so many of them turn to scavenging as their primary food source. But this species adapted very well to scavenging eons ago which is one of the reasons Ben Franklin looked in disfavor at the proposal to make the Bald Eagle our national bird. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or…

Ferruginous Hawk In Head-on Flight

The Ferruginous Hawk is the largest, most powerful buteo in North America. They have a broad chest, wide gape, large head and long, narrow-tipped wings. Unlike most other buteos they often perch on the ground. Their huge nests, typically constructed in isolated trees or on cliffs, were often constructed of bison bones and wool before the elimination of that massive animal from the western plains. This species is often compared to the Golden Eagle with which it has much in common and they are fully deserving of their apt scientific name, Buteo regalis. 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, called in or set up This bird had been perched on an old fence post in Utah’s west desert (background is the Stansbury Mountains) and I was able to capture it in flight soon after it lifted off. I like the blood on the left foot and the somewhat unusual wing position as it took off mostly in my direction. This wing position is seldom seen in photographs because the wing would obscure the head in the much more common side view. Typically these birds don’t take off toward the photographer from a low perch. Ron

Image Theft And Identity Theft In One Fell Swoop

On January 4th I published a blog post regarding this image that had been stolen from my Feathered Photography galleries. My copyright had been removed and replaced with the logo of someone else and the image was posted on Facebook under the name of Alessandro Pinna (I’m appalled at the poor quality of this version due to overcompression…) As I reported before, I filed a DMCA takedown notice with Facebook and the image was removed the next day. But many other images on that FB account had been stolen and the comment section was brimming with vitriol and extreme anger. Justifiably so. It turns out that the real Alessandro Pinna has apparently been the victim of identity theft on FB and is innocent in this entire matter. Yesterday, he posted this police report on his website. I then posted the link to the police report on a FB group I belong to that is dedicated to dealing with image theft. At that time I was yet unsure about what was really going on. Then today, I received the following email from the real Alessandro Pinna (quoted with permission). He had seen both my blog post and the fact that I had posted the police report to the FB group. Dear Ron, I am writing to you because I just found out you guys are mentioning my name and my website on your blog. I just wanted to confirm it’s my name this guy has stolen and so I had to start the process to defend myself and clear…

Flaring Harrier

Just a single image today. I get my best Northern Harrier opportunities this time of year so I’ll likely be posting a few more shots of them over the next weeks. I hope you don’t tire of them… 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This bird was coming in for a landing but changed its mind right after this shot was taken five days ago. There were two dead, frozen fish near this pond that some of the harriers would pick at occasionally. They’d been there for most of the week and it’s my presumption that they were there naturally as refuge managers haven’t yet done the fish kill to destroy the damaging and invasive carp. I like the flight angle of the bird, the fully flared tail, the Phragmites stems in the corner and the pond reflections in the background. Ron Note: Some of you likely noticed that my blog was down from yesterday afternoon until later this morning – “hardware problems” at Network Solutions. I’ve not been a happy camper… Note #2 (1/7/13 @ 6:30pm). I just now learned that one of the “fish” I mentioned above turned out to be a chicken that someone had obviously used to bait eagles and maybe harriers. Of the two “fish” I mentioned above, one was obviously a fish but from my vantage point I could only see pink flesh with the second one and assumed it to be another fish. Instead it was a damned chicken. …

Northern Harriers Banking In Flight

Images of birds banking in flight can be quite striking because the flight postures with wings fully extended and the tail spread (in order to catch as much air as possible for the turn) allow a good look at the entire underside or topside of the bird. But they’re very difficult shots to get because as soon as the bank begins the bird has abruptly changed direction which makes them difficult to track while maintaining focus. It’s easier when they’re further away but then you don’t get very good detail – the closer they are the more challenging the shot becomes. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I caught this adult female in a banking pose three days ago in the late afternoon (unusual for me, typically I only shoot in the early mornings). With the sun low on the horizon, this posture gave me good light on the underside of the harrier. Birds tend to keep their heads level as they bank which often allows the photographer to get good eye contact in spite of the steep angle of the body. 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Even when I do manage to lock on to a banking bird, maintain focus and not clip any body parts, I usually only get one successful shot (if I’m lucky). But two days ago I got three of the same harrier in the same banking turn. This bird…

Image Thieves Burn My Butt!

Image thievery is a huge issue for me and virtually all other serious photographers who have websites or blogs. I just don’t understand why some folks think they have the right to steal the images of others. Social media sites like Facebook, Pinterest and tumblr are a big part of the problem (though it certainly exists elsewhere on the web). Each of these sites has policies in their terms of service that prohibit members from infringing on the intellectual property rights of others and allows them to disable the accounts of those who abuse the policy. For example, from the terms of service of Facebook: “If you repeatedly infringe other people’s intellectual property rights, we will disable your account when appropriate.” Social media sites also have online forms that allow legitimate copyright holders to file Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down notices with those respective sites. Sadly, I’m coming to know these procedures well and some of those accounts have been disabled permanently because of repeated abuse. Below is just one example of how flagrant and egregious these violations can be. This image of a male American Kestrel is in my Feathered Photography image galleries (link to the photo). Every page and photo in those galleries contains this statement: “All images are the property of Ron Dudley and are protected under international copyright laws“. But last week I was alerted by someone who recognized my image on the Facebook page of someone else. Notice that my copyright has been removed and replaced by the logo of Alessandro Pinna. …

Does Anyone Know What’s Wrong With The Eye Of This Northern Harrier?

It’s very cold here in northern Utah (8 degrees F. as I type) and there’s lots of snow on the ground – ideal conditions for photographing hunting Northern Harriers. And yesterday morning everything was covered with a thick layer of hoar-frost which turned the marshes into a frosty fairyland. I was able to get lots of shots of this particular bird and in the field I didn’t even notice that there was anything unusual about it. Most of the images were flight shots and there just isn’t time pay attention to detail when you’re concentrating so hard on keeping the bird in the frame and in focus. But when I got home and started reviewing my images I was taken aback. Something’s definitely going on with the right eye of this bird. At first I thought it might be just the closed nictitating membrane but I have dozens of shots of this bird and the eye is the same in all of them. It’s definitely not a normal membrane, if it’s the membrane at all. A better look at the right eye. This is probably the sharpest, most detailed image I was able to get of the bird. An extreme crop of the previous image to show the best detail I could manage. To my untrained eye it looks like there may be some kind of fungal growth in and around the eye that may have discolored the eye ring and nictitating membrane and closed the membrane permanently, but that’s only a guess….

Just a Shot That I Like…#28 – Male American Kestrel In Warm Light

For the New Year I’ve decided to resurrect my “Just A Shot That I Like” feature. For some reason I stopped using it and I’m not really sure why. There are times when I want to post just a single image and this feature seems ideal for those situations. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Two days ago I found this handsome male American Kestrel posing on rabbitbrush just as the sun was coming up over the mountains. I like the warm, early morning light and the pose. Best wishes and a happy and prosperous New Year to you all! Ron

Parahawking

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know that I’ve had some reservations about falconry in the past. After extensive discussion here, with input from falconers, I no longer have many of those concerns. Last night Mark Runnels (one of the falconers involved in that discussion) sent me the link to a video clip that has simply fascinated me and I just had to share it. Like many others I sometimes fantasize about flight, especially as I watch a raptor soaring on the updrafts. The feeling of freedom and the ever-changing spectacular views that would come with three-dimensional mobility would be such an incredible rush. And if it could be done in silence (without engine noise) so that the only sound would be that of the air rushing by, so much the better. I’ve often watched raptors playing “tag” with each other on the air currents and wondered what it would be like to join them. Well, this must be pretty close to that experience. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. Link below. Parahawking Thanks once again, Mark. Ron

Christmas Birds At Farmington Bay

Christmas Day is one of our favorite times to photograph birds. My daughter lives in Florida so I normally don’t get to spend time with family and for me bird photography is the next-best thing. Besides, we usually have splendid isolation when we’re “out there” while everyone else is at home celebrating the holiday in a more traditional way. A win/win situation for all. This post is dedicated to “Christmas Birds” – photos I’ve taken on Christmas Day in recent years. I often think of these birds as extra-special Christmas presents. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, called in or set up This beautiful male American Kestrel is perched on a short but thick wooden pole at Farmington Bay. The pole has been a favorite perch for kestrels and eagles for years but now an ugly bat box has been placed near the top of the pole, ruining it for photographic purposes. I’m all for bats but I sure wish the box had been placed a few inches lower on the pole. 1/400, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, called in or set up Two years ago, this Common Merganser hung around a Farmington Bay pond for much of the winter. I seldom saw it actively fishing. Instead, it would just wait around until one of the many Pied-billed Grebes caught a fish and then steal it away from them – very entertaining to watch. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4,…

Relaxed Male Northern Harrier

I don’t post perched Northern Harriers often because they’re usually partially hidden in vegetation or the perch is an unattractive one. Add to that the fact that they’re very nervous birds and typically won’t let me get close. In the rare case where I can approach the bird, nervousness is usually readily apparent. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But three days ago this male made an exception for me. It was a cold morning and I guess he just didn’t feel like flying in the frigid air so he allowed me to approach reasonably close. The icing on the cake was that he was on a pleasing perch, in good light and I liked the natural setting and relaxed pose. I was also hoping for some take-off shots but when he launched he headed almost straight for me and I lost focus on him. Ron

Female Kestrel With Jesses, In Flight

Yesterday morning we found the female American Kestrel with attached jesses once again. This time we were able to get a little closer to her than we had before. This little lady is more difficult to approach than most other kestrels on the island. 1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light I think she looks and acts healthy. She’s actively hunting and based on the blood on her jesses (most likely from voles) I’d guess that she’s good at it. I immediately called Becka Butcher, the trapper who has been trying to capture this bird so that the jesses can be removed. Becka made another attempt later in the afternoon but she was unsuccessful. This bird is extremely wary. The kestrel approached the trap, even flew down and investigated it closely but would not enter it. Becka said that she and others who are qualified and licensed will continue to try to capture this bird using more “creative methods”, since traditional traps don’t seem to work on her (a number of attempts have been made). And since she most likely escaped from a rogue, “wannabe” illegal falconer (rather than from an ethical, licensed falconer), once this falcon has been trapped and checked for health issues she will be released back into the wild. A good thing… Ron

Another Positive Development Regarding Lost Falconry Birds

Just a quick post this morning to announce some more good news on the “lost falconry bird” front. (no, the female kestrel hasn’t yet been recaptured, but I believe efforts are continuing). For those new to this issue, a quick summary: Occasionally, falconry birds escape through no fault of the handler. When they do, they typically still have falconry gear attached – jesses, anklets, telemetry gear etc. Every effort is made by the falconry community to recapture these birds, usually with success. The larger segment of the problem comes from unethical “rogue” or “wannabe” falconers who capture wild birds illegally and then try to fly them without proper knowledge and experience. Due to negligence or inexperience these illegal birds sometimes escape with their “gear” attached, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage in the wild. My good friend and constant photography companion Mia McPherson and I have come across and photographed three of these escaped birds in the last three years. At least two of the three were most likely the result of rogue falconers rather than the organized falconry community. More details of what has already transpired can be found here. When someone spots one of these escaped birds in the wild, getting through to the “right” person for reporting and appropriate action is cumbersome, time-consuming and frustrating (believe me, I know!). It’s difficult to get through all the layers of DWR’s bureaucracy, finding a rehabber who can help isn’t easy and there hasn’t been an efficient avenue for a non-falconer to report a found bird to the falconry community. The North America Falconer’s Association (NAFA) website…

Category: Diurnal Raptors