Swainson’s Hawk
A recent comment on this blog by Mike Shaw reminded me that I’ve never made a Swainson’s Hawk blog post. Part of the reason is because I’ve had relatively few opportunities with them so my files are limited. But in reviewing my images I thought I had enough acceptable photos to make a representative post on the species. I’ve deliberately chosen shots that show these hawks from a variety of angles – front, back, side and in flight. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found this young bird hunting grasshoppers along a gravel road at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. It would catch a ‘hopper, eat it on the road and then return to a nearby fencepost to watch for more of them. The bird seemed to be fearless and paid me very little attention. 1/1200, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4 Occasionally it would land on a different post but it didn’t stray far for quite a while. With this pose we get a good look at the back side. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4 I thought this screaming pose was interesting enough to include here despite the nictitating membrane partially covering the eye and the slight tightness on the tail. 1/1000, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4 This is a different bird and I include the image for the good look at the underside plumage patterns in flight. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found this cooperative adult at Farmington Bay Wildlife…
Stansbury Mountain Red-tailed Hawk
I like to photograph raptors (or most any bird, really) in this kind of light when I think I can get away with it. When I first started photographing birds I always made an effort to get the light source directly behind me and now I shudder to think of the interesting light I sometimes missed, especially since what I ended up with was often something rather mundane. I recently posted a somewhat similar image of a red-tail but the poses and settings in the two photos are quite different from each other. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found this hawk perched in dappled, directional light a few months ago. It was near the bottom of a canyon in the Stansbury Mountains of Utah so I was looking slightly down on the bird – a perspective I appreciate if the angle isn’t too steep. I like the haughty pose – which was actually a reaction to another red-tail flying toward this bird. Ron
Rough-legged Hawk At Take-Off
It’s been a good winter in northern Utah for Rough-legged Hawks. I’ve seen many more this year than I have in years past and they were particularly abundant on Antelope Island and on the causeway. On several occasions out there we counted 20 birds or more. Their numbers have now thinned out considerably but there’s still a few of them around. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found this one a few weeks ago perched in the grasses in front of a darker colored field of dried sunflowers. The hawk was too obscured by the grasses for quality photos so as usual I set up for take-off. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As the hawk gained elevation the darker sunflowers dominated the background but you can still see the out of focus grasses at the bottom of the frame. I really like the backgrounds/settings the island often provides, though all that texture and contrast behind the subject can sure make it a challenge to get focus lock on the bird – particularly in flight. I’ll miss these handsome buteos this summer but hope they have a successful breeding season on the arctic tundra and return in good numbers again next winter. Ron
Horned Lark On Wild Sunflowers
I’ve always had a soft spot for Horned Larks because they remind me so much of growing up on the family farm in nw Montana. But in virtually all of my images of them they’re perched on rocks or on the ground. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Earlier this week I found this male perched on – yes, another rock. But while I was photographing him he flew to this nearby sunflower head and started picking seeds out of it. I like the setting and that you can see the seed in the beak with the seed husk blowing away in the breeze under the wing-tip. Ron
Golden Eagle – Some Progress On A Nemesis
Anyone who follows this blog knows that I have a penchant for raptors and over the last 6 years of photographing them I can count on one hand the number of good opportunities I’ve had with Golden Eagles. I had another chance at one yesterday on Antelope Island. I almost didn’t spot this bird because it was hunkered down so far in the sagebrush (here it is standing more erect in anticipation of flight). 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I knew that my only chance for a few decent images would be at take-off or just after but the angle of light was a problem – the bird was facing almost directly into the sun. If it veered to its right I’d get butt shots and probably lose the head behind the wings. If it turned to its left the face would be in shadow and I’d get no catch light. What can you do but wait, be ready for lift-off and hope for the best from a less than ideal situation? 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Thankfully the eagle launched straight ahead which gave me the best light I could hope for under the circumstances. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc For the first wing-beat I got light on the head and a catch light in two images – then the bird turned slightly toward me and that light was lost. I got several more sharp shots with dynamic flight poses but the face was completely shaded. Curses !!! I…
Just A Shot That I Like… #21 – Red-tailed Hawk In Dramatic Light
Strongly directional light can be a blessing or a curse and all too often it’s the latter. It makes proper exposure a challenge because it’s very easy to blow the highlights and/or have shadows so deep that there’s no detail there at all. But when things work out the effect can be appealing and dramatic. 1/2000, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This old cedar stump is a favorite perch of Red-tailed Hawks at the base of Utah’s Stansbury Mountains in the west desert. It’s usually a frustrating situation for me though because I can’t access a proper position to get the sun behind me and for most of the day the sidelight is just too harsh for an exposure that works well. But on this one morning the hawk was on the stump just as the sun came over the Oquirrh Mountains to the east so the light was soft and warm enough to make an exposure that I liked and I thought the shaded upper background worked well with the light on the bird’s head. Ron Ron
Short-eared Owl Delivering Food To The Nest
In previous posts (here, here and here) about these Short-eared Owls at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge I’ve shown and described snippets of the fascinating behaviors I observed when this male would deliver voles to the female and two youngsters at the nest. But it struck me that I’ve never put the whole process together in sequence so the behaviors could be fully appreciated so that’s what I’ll attempt to do here. Most of the images will be different from those in the previous posts. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc The male was a tireless and highly skilled hunter and I never saw him with any prey other than voles. When successful he would always return to the vicinity of the nest and land momentarily on one of two favorite perches – the dark sagebrush at lower right in the above photo or a metal post a few feet from the sagebrush. Here he’s coming in for a landing on the sagebrush with vole in talons and glances up at me to make sure all is safe. I really like the intense direct eye contact in the shot. 1/1000, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Now he’s focused on the sagebrush in order to make a successful landing. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This time he stayed perched for less than five seconds and didn’t even pull his wings in against his body – he just kept them out or up while he seemed to contemplate his next…
Northern Harrier In Flight
Usually winter has been the best time for me to photograph Northern Harriers but my opportunities with them have been relatively sparse this year. So with the season rapidly coming to an end I was delighted to find this cooperative bird yesterday morning near the Great Salt Lake. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 The harrier allowed a close approach while hunting and this time the light was favorable too. Occasionally the bird would look up and provide good eye contact. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 I found it difficult to get anything but sky in the background but for this image it dipped down low enough for me to get the lake as a backdrop. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 The sun was high enough that the far wing was usually shaded while in the down position but I think there’s still enough light and detail there to make this work. 1/2500, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 Here the bird was a little past me but the slight look back I got helped to compensate for that. It’s very possible that this was my last good harrier opportunity until next winter so I’m appreciative of yesterday’s serendipitous encounter. Ron
Just A Shot That I Like… #20 – American Kestrel With Moxie
I hope you’ll bear with me but for this post I decided to go whimsical. This image isn’t particularly strong technically but it always brings a smile to my face and I thought others might enjoy it. 1/1250, f/10, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This plastic owl sits atop a weather station transmitter at Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area. The obvious purpose of the owl is to scare birds away from the transmitter. You can see how well it works with kestrels. American Kestrels are just about the only species of bird that I’ve seen dare to perch on top of this phony Great Horned Owl. I’ve always admired these courageous little falcons for their pluck and wondered, only slightly in jest, if they might have a bit of a Napoleon complex. Truly a bird with cojones – both sexes. Ron
Farmington Bay Bald Eagles 2012 – A Bust!
Farmington Bay Wildlife Management Area is typically a mecca for birders and bird photographers during January and February. When it gets very cold many of Utah’s wintering Bald Eagles congregate there and create quite the spectacle for avian enthusiasts. Though I’m not particularly fond of photographing birds among throngs of people I usually can’t resist the unusual opportunity with these magnificent birds and join in the fray multiple times during the “season”. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc One thing that especially appeals to me about Farmington Bay is the opportunity to photograph these eagles in flight with the Wasatch Mountains as a background. Even though such a background makes it much more difficult for focus to “lock on” the bird I really like the dramatic backdrop the dark, often shaded mountains provide when there’s light on the eagle – much more appealing for me than the typical blue sky background. Typically there are hundreds of eagles at the refuge during “prime time”. I once counted 225 birds and that’s just the ones I could see. Others have reported from 300-400 birds. This photo should give you some idea, though it shows just one small portion of Unit One. The concentration of birds was about the same that day everywhere you looked over the ice. This is the famous “eagle tree”. I’ve seen as many as 20 birds on this one perch alone. Of course the eagles prefer to look south over the ice and water so it’s difficult…