Tag: graphic
Peregrine Falcon On A Duck Kill
Magpies Scavenging Entrails Rejected By Raptors
On my last Montana trip I think I figured out part of the reason why Black-billed Magpies often perch high on power poles in some areas. I’m sure this apparent behavior is known to others but it was something new for me.
Peregrine Falcon Feeding Behavior (graphic)
The Peregrine Falcon has always been a nemesis bird for me. I’ve occasionally seen them far off, either in flight or perched, but have never been able to get close to one. All that changed last week when I spent an incredible half hour very close to a young bird while it was feeding on a female Northern Shoveler. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there was no LIGHT! DAMMITALL! It was heavily overcast with only a bright spot in the clouds to mark the position of the sun. As usual, this kind of situation requires lots of compromises between shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, motion blur, catch lights, ad infinitum… So compromise I did but I still got many feeding behavior images I find interesting. And since one of the primary focuses of this blog is bird behaviors, you guessed it – a blog post… First – a warning. Some of these photos are graphic. Proceed with caution if your sensitivities are fragile. 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As I first approached this falcon it was depluming the duck. At times feathers were flying everywhere but at these shutter speeds and apertures many of those shots ended up in the delete bin. At this point I was still using the 1.4 teleconverter but the bird soon let me approach close enough that I was able to ditch the tc and get slightly more shutter speed. Take visual note of the size of the crop in this image when the falcon has just begun…
Tree of Death (warning – graphic!)
In late January my friend Mia and I made the drive to the Promontory area north of the Great Salt Lake in a quest for Golden Eagle photos. We did find some eagles but were definitely unprepared for what else we stumbled upon. Second warning – most of these photos are graphic and may be profoundly disturbing to some. If you proceed further in this post, please – no complaints about what you’ve seen. You have been twice forewarned. A misleadingly idyllic scene What we found was the kind of country that I love – wide open spaces, big skies, blissful silence and isolation. The setting reminded me of the area around Cut Bank, Montana where I grew up. Tree of death So what a shock it was to come around a bend in the dirt road by this little reservoir and find such a horrific scene! Someone had apparently shot two Red Foxes, a domestic cat and a Common Raven and deliberately hung them in this tree right next to the road as some sort of a sick trophy display. First Red Fox in tree This Red Fox had been hung by its neck in a fork of branches. Second Red Fox in tree This one was simply draped over a stronger branch, very close to the road and with no obstructing branches between the fox and everyone who was forced to look at it as they came around the curve in the road. Cat impaled on fence post…
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Peregrine Falcon On A Duck Kill
Magpies Scavenging Entrails Rejected By Raptors
On my last Montana trip I think I figured out part of the reason why Black-billed Magpies often perch high on power poles in some areas. I’m sure this apparent behavior is known to others but it was something new for me.
Peregrine Falcon Feeding Behavior (graphic)
The Peregrine Falcon has always been a nemesis bird for me. I’ve occasionally seen them far off, either in flight or perched, but have never been able to get close to one. All that changed last week when I spent an incredible half hour very close to a young bird while it was feeding on a female Northern Shoveler. That’s the good news. The bad news is that there was no LIGHT! DAMMITALL! It was heavily overcast with only a bright spot in the clouds to mark the position of the sun. As usual, this kind of situation requires lots of compromises between shutter speed, ISO, depth of field, motion blur, catch lights, ad infinitum… So compromise I did but I still got many feeding behavior images I find interesting. And since one of the primary focuses of this blog is bird behaviors, you guessed it – a blog post… First – a warning. Some of these photos are graphic. Proceed with caution if your sensitivities are fragile. 1/250, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As I first approached this falcon it was depluming the duck. At times feathers were flying everywhere but at these shutter speeds and apertures many of those shots ended up in the delete bin. At this point I was still using the 1.4 teleconverter but the bird soon let me approach close enough that I was able to ditch the tc and get slightly more shutter speed. Take visual note of the size of the crop in this image when the falcon has just begun…
Tree of Death (warning – graphic!)
In late January my friend Mia and I made the drive to the Promontory area north of the Great Salt Lake in a quest for Golden Eagle photos. We did find some eagles but were definitely unprepared for what else we stumbled upon. Second warning – most of these photos are graphic and may be profoundly disturbing to some. If you proceed further in this post, please – no complaints about what you’ve seen. You have been twice forewarned. A misleadingly idyllic scene What we found was the kind of country that I love – wide open spaces, big skies, blissful silence and isolation. The setting reminded me of the area around Cut Bank, Montana where I grew up. Tree of death So what a shock it was to come around a bend in the dirt road by this little reservoir and find such a horrific scene! Someone had apparently shot two Red Foxes, a domestic cat and a Common Raven and deliberately hung them in this tree right next to the road as some sort of a sick trophy display. First Red Fox in tree This Red Fox had been hung by its neck in a fork of branches. Second Red Fox in tree This one was simply draped over a stronger branch, very close to the road and with no obstructing branches between the fox and everyone who was forced to look at it as they came around the curve in the road. Cat impaled on fence post…