Diurnal Raptors – Page 82 – Feathered Photography

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…

Good News Regarding The Escaped Peregrine Falcon and American Kestrel

Recently I’ve photographed and posted about two escaped falconry birds – a female American Kestrel and a Peregrine Falcon. Both were flying free with attached jesses and/or anklets in the vicinity of Antelope Island. Both were reported to wildlife authorities and to the falconry community but each bird has been a challenge to recapture for a variety of reasons – among them the difficulty of getting proper permission for the licensed trapper to attempt the recapture of the kestrel in a state park. There were lots of hoops to jump through. It is very likely, for a variety of reasons, that both of these birds were originally captured illegally by “wannabe” falconers and not by anyone in the organized and licensed falconry community. Two days after we found the kestrel we met the licensed trapper out on the island to point out the area where the bird was hanging out and to try to find her, which we never did. But yesterday morning we spotted the female Kestrel once again, in the very same area where we found her before. She was far off but when she scratched her face one of the jesses became obvious, as you can see in this photo. I immediately called the trapper to report that the bird was in the area again and she was enthusiastic about making the attempt but as far as she knew, permissions from the state still hadn’t been obtained. A little background before I get to the good news. When Mark Runnels (master falconer from Oklahoma) saw my first post on the female kestrel,…

Poop, Perches and Personal Preferences

Many raptors are “sit and wait” hunters, which means they often hunt from an elevated perch instead of “on the wing” and Red-tailed Hawks are well-known for this practice. An elevated perch provides good views over a large area and no extra energy need be expended in flight while looking for food. Typically these birds will use the same productive perch repeatedly over long periods of time, which presents a challenge to the photographer – poop (hereafter referred to as “whitewash”). Whitewash consists largely of crystalline uric acid (it’s more complicated than that but I’ll try not to stray into a discussion of the functions of the cloaca), which tends to be bright white. That whitewash can create some aesthetic and ethical conflicts between a “natural shot” and an image that has been “Photoshopped” to death, primarily by use of the clone tool. Many photographers routinely clone out whitewash and/or droppings and I’ll admit that I’ve done it before, but for me it’s an ethical dilemma because I much prefer to leave my images as natural as possible since I consider myself to be a “nature photographer”. In fact, right now I’m struggling with a series of Horned Lark images that I really like, but there’s a large, fresh and very conspicuous dropping right in front of the birds foot that most would find distracting. I could clone it out but every time I looked at that image I would know what I’d done. Canon 7D, 1/4000, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in A couple of days…

My Recent Encounters With The Female Prairie Falcon

As regular readers of my blog know, I’ve had four close-up encounters with this female Prairie Falcon on the Antelope Island causeway over the last couple of months. I couldn’t resist posting some images of her in different poses that I haven’t published here previously. There is general agreement among folks who are much more knowledgeable about falcons than I am that it was the same bird in all four cases. 1/640, f/4.5, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in Here she is on 10/7/12. I’ll never forget that morning because she let me get closer than I had ever been to a wild Prairie Falcon (even had to remove my tc). But there was a tradeoff (isn’t there always?) because the reason she felt so secure was that she was in deep shade, which isn’t the best situation for photography. Still, I’m happy to have the images of her that morning. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in A little over a month later (11/11/12) she killed a Northern Shoveler in the water about 50 yards out and waited for it to drift to shore. Here she has just claimed her prize and seemed to raise her wings in celebration. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in She attempted to enjoy her meal on the shore edge but waves kept coming in and sloshing the duck around so she decided to drag it further away…

Yet Another Escaped Falconry Bird – This Time A Female American Kestrel

Yesterday morning I spotted this female American Kestrel perched on a far-off rock to the west on Antelope Island. She was much too far away for decent photographs (as is obvious from the mediocre quality of these first five photos) but when I see raptors at most any distance it’s my practice to “scope them out” through my lens so I can ID them and look for anything unusual or interesting. I took a couple of shots for documentary purposes but at first I didn’t notice anything noteworthy about her except for the keratin flaking off of her beak. But then she scratched her face with her foot. Jesses! Those damned jesses again. In this shot you can see anklets above both feet and the jess on the left leg. She perched and preened on the rock for quite a while and a few minutes later she scratched with her other foot which provided a good look at the jess on the right ankle. I’m including this shot for a look at her right side, in the unlikely event that some local falconer may recognize her. I hung around for a long time in the hopes of catching her at take-off for a better look at both jesses and anklets. As luck would have it, when it happened they were both in shade and I lost focus on the bird but the photo still provides a decent look at the jesses. I’m deeply troubled by this event and I’ll provide a little background as…

Another Encounter With The Antelope Island Prairie Falcon

Two days ago we located the Prairie Falcon on the causeway once again. This bird spends most of its time on the island itself but occasionally ventures onto the causeway to hunt ducks. I’m quite sure, as are others who are more falcon knowledgeable than I, that it’s the same individual in all of my recent Prairie Falcon posts. Usually I complain about not being able to get close enough to my subjects but here I had the opposite problem. The only way I could even see this bird was from very close. From any further away the falcon was completely obstructed by the road edge and the vegetation growing there. The first two images are essentially full frame (very little crop) and that’s without my tc attached, so the falcon is too tight in the frame but this post is more about falcon adaptations than it is about aesthetics anyway. 1/1600, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This bird was a mess! It had apparently just finished dining on duck so it was wet, blood encrusted and disheveled, with tidbits still clinging to feet and beak. The bird is meticulously cleaning and scratching its beak with those impressive talons, which seems to me to be about like picking one’s teeth with a Bowie knife. 1/1600, f/9, ISO 500, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But what I found particularly interesting about many of the images I took of this bird was the good look at the well-defined and bulging crop. …

Male American Kestrel In Flight

Until yesterday, I’ve been largely stymied in my efforts got get good quality images of American Kestrels in flight. This has been especially frustrating because kestrels are the most numerous and widespread falcon in North America and they’re very common in my photography stomping grounds. I have many high quality images of them perched, but in-flight has been a different story. Because these falcons are small and their flight is swift and erratic, the photographer’s best chance is to catch them hovering. But they always hover facing into the wind and it seems like every time I’ve had that opportunity with them the sun has been behind them. Or they’re facing away from me. Or I can’t get a catch light in the eye. Or they’re too far away. Or they stop hovering and fly further away just as I get the pickup stopped and my lens up. Or… ad infinitum. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But yesterday morning, this male forgot just how much fun it is to aggravate me and gave me some opportunities in good light. He would hover for a few seconds, then move on to another nearby location and hover some more. It’s fascinating to watch them hover up close through the lens. The wings alternate between gliding and flapping and the tail is constantly adjusting to every minor variation in the breeze but the position of the head seems to be absolutely fixed in space as it scans below, looking for prey. A…

The Trouble With Harriers

Obtaining proper exposure on certain birds with high contrast colors has always been a big problem for bird photographers. When your subject has both very light and very dark colors it becomes problematic to get good detail in the darks without “blowing out” the whites, especially if the whites are very bright white. A partial list of bird species that are notoriously difficult to expose properly would include the Black Billed Magpie, male Wood Duck, adult Bald Eagle and many species of Terns. And because of the bright white rump patch found on all ages and both sexes of Northern Harriers, that species would also be on the list. One of the partial solutions to this problem is to photograph while the sun is low during either early morning or late afternoon because the light is much less “harsh” then and also because it has a better chance of striking the bird obliquely rather than at right angles (light at an angle tends to produce tiny texture shadows – “detail”). 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in I like this image for a variety of reasons: the well-lit and detailed view of the topside of a harrier in flight, provided by the banking flight posture of the bird getting good eye contact with this flight posture isn’t easy, but this shot has it the background has some color texture – instead of solid blue sky or white clouds it’s a subtle mixture of both the harrier is sharp –…

Northern Harriers Hunting

It’s getting to be what I call “harrier time” here in northern Utah so I thought I’d do a significant post on the species. For me, watching these birds hunt is absolutely mesmerizing and I could do it for hours. And I have – many, many times. But before I get into hunting I’d like to cover some basics on telling the sexes and ages apart. Sexual dimorphism in harriers is exceptional among birds of prey – telling adult males from adult females is easy because their colors are so dramatically different. But because juveniles of either sex strongly resemble adult females, that distinction becomes very tricky and causes a lot of confusion. So, here’s a primer: Adult males – gray above, mostly white below, black wing tips, lemon-yellow eyes Adult females – brown above, buffy with brown streaks below, lemon-yellow eyes (but in my experience, the eyes of adult females tend to be less bright than those of adult males) Juvenile of both sexes – similar to adult female but darker chocolate-brown above and strongly rufous (reddish) below Juvenile male – pale, greenish-yellow eyes Juvenile female – dark, chocolate-brown eyes All sexes and ages have the unique facial disc (ruff) characteristic of harriers. It’s not as prominent as it is in many owls but it can clearly be seen in this image. Its function is the same as it is in owls – to direct sound to the ears. Most hawks hunt almost exclusively by sight but because of their excellent hearing, thanks largely to the facial disc, harriers depend at least…

Rough-legged Hawk “Playing”

This post is about behavior. Please don’t expect high quality images… Last March I found this juvenile (I believe) Rough-legged Hawk along the Antelope Island causeway on a cold morning after a light snowfall. It was perched on a windrow of debris consisting mostly of piles of old brine fly pupae casings. For a while the bird seemed content to simply rest and watch me. But soon it apparently got bored… and walked about two feet to my right to investigate a clump of fly casings (red arrow) that had been cemented together by melting snow that had re-frozen during the night. The hawk reached over to grasp the clump with its talons… retrieved the clump,… transferred it to its beak and then instantly tossed it to the ground. I assumed that was that, figuring the bird had thought it might be something edible, then discarded it for good when it wasn’t. But that wasn’t what happened. The hawk grabbed the clump with its talons once again… and then seemed to contemplate for a few seconds about just what to do next. Which turned out to be something like “give the clump a toss and see where it lands”. The hawk immediately started walking over to where the clump had landed behind the mound of fly casings, where it can’t be seen in this image. It used its wings for a little more stability as it negotiated the hill of debris. …

Prairie Falcon Redux

It’s been 16 days since I’ve seen a Prairie Falcon along the causeway and I had just about given up on them for the short-term. But yesterday, as I was leaving the island after a relatively fruitless morning, I spotted that distinctive flash of bright breast whites up ahead among the rocks and very close to the road. Sure enough, as I got closer I could tell it was Falco mexicanus perched on a colorful boulder. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in, background is the Great Salt Lake I’ll sheepishly admit to the fact that in situations like this I typically come down with a case of “buck fever” (aggravated by the fact that I have familial tremors) and sure enough I was actually shaking with excitement and dread as I tried to maneuver my pickup to get a clear shot of the bird through all the vegetation along the road. With this particular perch, this was the most unobstructed view I could get. In case you’re wondering what the source of my “dread” could be, I’m a dedicated pessimist at heart (which Mia mercilessly teases me about) and I’m always convinced that the bird will take off a split second before I get the pickup stopped in a safe place and my finger on the shutter. That exact thing had happened twice that morning with Red-tailed Hawks. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in, background is…

Category: Diurnal Raptors