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.
Whenever I watch terns in flight I’m struck by their grace, beauty and incredible maneuverability as they cruise over the water surface hunting for small fish.
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).
On my recent Montana camping trip I was pleased to note that the good folks of Big Sky Country care deeply about their bluebirds. Nest boxes of every description and age seem to be abundant on both private and public land and along road corridors. Nesting season was in full swing, as were the traditional spats between Mountain Bluebirds and Tree Swallows for nesting rights to the boxes.
On these trips I can never resist photographing the bluebirds in particular as they perform their domestic duties.
The Golden Eagle has long been a nemesis species for me. Over the years I’ve had a handful of potentially spectacular opportunities with these birds but something has always gone wrong.
This is the nesting pair of Ospreys I photographed at Flaming Gorge, Utah two weeks ago today. The male was coming in for a landing to relieve the female on the eggs. The dark background was a deeply shaded mountain to contrast the bird that had a little more light on it.
Yesterday morning I found this Willet perched on one of the Tintic Quartzite boulders so common on the northern part of Antelope Island. The Willets are still active on the higher slopes of the island but it won’t be long until they’re spending most of their time along the shoreline and causeway.
We returned home Thursday after spending three wonderful days camping at Flaming Gorge in NE Utah. This is very close to the view we had on most mornings from our campsites (two of them), though this image was taken the morning before the Osprey photo, below. As you’ll see, the lighting conditions were dramatically different…
I don’t often get close enough to Ferruginous Hawks for decent photos but this one seemed curious about me and flew in just close enough.
I heard some very good news on the Barn Owl front recently. Hawkwatch International reports that a pair of Barn Owls has taken up residence in one of the kestrel nest boxes that HI keeps an eye on and they have laid 5 eggs!
In my experience American Avocets are difficult subjects to get in flight because of their speed and erratic flight patterns. I’ve tried often but I sure don’t have many flight shots of the species that are very good. 1/4000, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light But I do like this one because of the sharpness of the bird, the position of the wings and feet, the nice eye contact, the pretty good exposure on a difficult subject and the somewhat unusual perspective with the viewer looking down on the bird that is flying mostly toward us. However I don’t particularly appreciate those two twigs behind the head so I’ve never posted this image before. Much as I dislike significant cloning, getting rid of those twigs has sorely tempted me more than once but in the end I just couldn’t do it (though I’ll admit to playing with it a little bit…). So I’m asking for critique on the image as presented. How much of a distraction do you think those two twigs are? Sometimes I become obsessed with imperfections (as several of you have pointed out on previous posts) and can’t see the forest for the trees. Perhaps the twigs aren’t as much of a problem as I think they might be. But either way, please be brutally honest. Thank you in advance for any thoughts on this you’d be willing to share. Ron Note: There are conflicting visual cues on this image for rotation. One would expect the twigs in the background to be vertical but when I rotate…
This sequence is from the summer of 2010 in southwest Montana. The adult male was kept busy hunting and delivering voles to his family of two chicks and the female on the nest.
Sunday morning we visited Utah’s west desert to see what we could turn up out there. We found a pair of American Kestrels, a few Swainson’s Hawks, one Ferruginous Hawk, several Turkey Vultures apparently feeding on a dead calf and four Red-tailed Hawks. But most were difficult to approach, in bad light or on ugly perches. Note: Some of this post may be of interest only to photographers. I apologize in advance to those of you interested more in the results of bird photography than in the process… 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in But we did find the nesting pair of red-tails that I’ve posted about previously. This bird was perched up a canyon near the nest where its mate was incubating eggs. I caught the hawk at lift-off… 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in and immediately after… 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in and I was able to keep the bird in focus for a long burst of 22 images as it flew to my left. The problem was that it had been perched above me on a hill so when it took off it mostly glided with its wings straight out and shaded underneath so many of those shots aren’t particularly interesting. 1/2500, f/6.3, ISO 640, 500 f/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This was the last image with any light under the wings….
Barn Owls have rather intricate plumage patterns and interesting color gradations on their dorsal (back) surfaces but they are rarely seen in their entirety in a single image. That’s partly because to get such an image you need to get them in flight with their wings out and tail spread which is very difficult to do since they’re primarily nocturnal. And when you do manage a flight shot of one you’re usually looking up at them and can’t see much, if any, of the dorsal surface. I thought this image fit the bill. especially with the bird looking down so that we can also see the colors and patterns on the top of the head. Yes, I do wish I had more light in the eye… 1/1600. f/8, ISO 500 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, canvas added for composition, not baited, set up or called in Another thing I like about the image is the clear look at the alulae (plural of alula) or “bastard wings – the first digit or “thumb” on the leading edge of the wing. And this shot shows one more thing that intrigues me – the right alula (left in our view) is extended further forward and at a sharper angle than the one on the birds left, perhaps in compensation for the tipped angle of flight. My research indicates that there’s still debate among experts about whether or not birds have muscular control of the alulae or they only respond to the pressure of air currents. This owl has just spotted potential prey below and is flying very slowly as…
The moment I pulled up on this small pond at Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge last Friday I knew there’d be some opportunities for interesting behavioral shots. There were small groups of American Avocets and Black-necked Stilts that were excitedly chirping away and flying at each other in typical springtime behavior for these mixed flocks.
