male – Page 28 – Feathered Photography

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

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

Great Horned Owls On The Montana Family Farm

Note: When I first started blogging 19 months ago, I somewhat arbitrarily decided to post my photos at 720 pixels on the long side. It didn’t take me long to change my mind and begin posting significantly larger images for the much better quality that becomes apparent at that larger size. Since that time I’ve pretty much ignored those early posts, until yesterday when Ingrid Taylar brought my attention to this Great Horned Owl post and it reminded me just how small the images are. So, I’ve decided to repost a very few of those very early works, with some additions and changes which will include: larger images – 900 pixels on the long side additional images, in most cases techs included with the photos updated narrative I’m thinking there might be two or three of these reposts over the next several weeks. I hope you’ll bear with me… For many years now there has been at least one pair of nesting Great Horned Owls on the farm where I grew up near Cut Bank, Montana. They were never there when I was a kid but they’ve sure taken to it since. This farm still seems like home to me and I return to it at least once every year for a visit with family and of course to check up on the owls. It’s the perfect place for these birds as it’s isolated, there are many old barns and granaries for the owls to find sanctuary and the area is literally crawling with field mice, voles and the ubiquitous Richardson’s Ground Squirrel…

Horned Larks

Horned Larks aren’t one of the “glamour species” for many, probably partly due to the fact that they’re so widespread and common. They’re found throughout most of North America and much of Eurasia. One of my scientific heroes, Carl (Carolus) Linnaeus, assigned the Latin name Eremophila alpestris (meaning “lark of the mountains”) to this bird, despite the fact that they commonly inhabit prairies, farmlands and deserts. These were the most common birds, by far, on the Montana farm where I grew up and they always bring back fond memories for me. Many folks think of them as just another “mostly brown little bird” but when you get close their colors and patterns really stand out. I really enjoy their soft, subtle call and have spent many hours watching them up close through my lens. These photos were taken on Antelope Island in the last few weeks. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in The sexes are similar, though the colors of the males are more vivid and the namesake “horns” of the female are less evident than those of the male. This is the female. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in She posed for me for quite a while before flying off. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not set up or called in This is the male, in a setting that shows more habitat. Often the black horns are laid back flat on…

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…

Delivering Food For A Family Of Short-eared Owls

I try not to play favorites when it comes to bird subjects for my photography but Short-eared Owls would have to be near the top of any such list I might make. I’ve had some luck with them here in Utah but my favorite area to photograph them is in southwest Montana. This series is from the summer of 2010 in Beaverhead County. I spent several days watching and photographing a male owl hunt voles and then bring them in for his family (female and two chicks) at the nest at the base of a sagebrush. I thought it might be interesting for some to see a full series of shots (of those I kept) as the male approached the nest with a vole. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, shot from pickup window, natural light Like me, this male was a creature of habit. I would watch him hunting far off in the distance and when he was successful he would always repeat the same pattern. He would bring the vole in to the vicinity of the nest and then land on one of two favorite perches for a short time before delivering the vole to his family. This small sagebrush was one of those favorite perches – the other was a metal post. Here, he is in the process of landing and you can see the dark vole in his left foot. He always carried the vole to the perch in his left foot (as I’ve documented here) and always transferred…

A Northern Harrier Kind Of Morning

Normally I avoid doing back to back posts on the same species but I went out shooting immediately after I published that last post and surprisingly it turned out to be a heckuva harrier morning. I’ve mentioned before that I usually have my best luck with harriers in the middle of winter, but yesterday I found two cooperative birds. 1/1600, f/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in This beauty was hunkered down for a break from hunting and let me get surprisingly close. It was early morning, the light was warm, and the bird posed for me for a long time. I chose to post this almost direct look from the hawk for a reason – because out of all those images, this one shows the unique harrier facial disc best. A facial disc is a concave arrangement of feathers on the face of some birds (most notably owls) that forms a circular parabaloid that collects sound waves and redirects them toward the ears. In harriers the disc is less prominent than in owls, but larger in relative size because it extends to the neck, so it is commonly referred to as a facial ruff, rather than a disc. The large ear openings of harriers are buried in the feathers of the head and can’t be seen. The angle of the disc or ruff feathers can be adjusted to alter the focal length of the sound waves they’re collecting, which allows the bird to “focus” at different distances – a…

Northern Harrier Basking In The Rising Sun

Just a single image this morning. Normally I can never get close to a harrier perched in a tree but this one made an exception for me. 1/800, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in As I approached this juvenile male (solid rufous breast, light iris) on a cold morning, the rising sun was still behind the mountains so it felt secure in the shade as I positioned my pickup for the best angle I could get. When the sunlight finally hit the bird he was determined to soak in the warmth (rather than fly off) so he spread his tail, fluffed up and posed for me for several minutes. The light was directional but I liked its effect. I’ve added no saturation to the image. Ron

Male Northern Harrier Almost Blown Off His Perch

I don’t often get close to perched male harriers but on Antelope Island a couple of months ago this one made an exception for me. 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc As I watched him through my lens a sudden wind gust almost blew him off of this pointed and precarious post perch and I liked some of the poses that resulted. It’s times like this that I appreciate the relatively fast burst rate of the Canon 7D. I didn’t get a great look at the eye in this first shot but I liked the tail, wing and left foot positions that show his obvious attempt to recover stability on the perch. 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc A better look at the eye and a higher wing position in this image… 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc and in the very next frame he extends his left wing far out in front. 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Still recovering. Notice the bloody feet in these shots, most likely from his last vole meal. 1/3200, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Finally, he’s recovered enough to give me direct eye contact. 1/2500, f/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc A little ruffled by the experience but in the end, all’s well. This series is an example of why, after I’ve taken a few static shots of the bird, I like to bump my settings to give me enough shutter speed…

Short-eared Owls In Flight

These three images are of a mated pair of Short-eared Owls taken two years ago at Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Montana. 1/1250, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is the male delivering a vole to his family. As you can see from my techs I had to max out my settings (especially on the last two images) to try to get enough shutter speed for flight shots. Each of these photos was taken on different mornings but the light was consistently a challenge while we were there. 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc This is the elusive female. I got very few shots of her because she spent most of the time on the nest with her two chicks and I rarely saw her fly. 1/800, f/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Another look at the male. There’s a good reason for the timing of this post – we’re at Red Rock right now (I prepared this post before leaving and post-dated publication) and anticipation of this trip had me thinking about these wonderful owls again. We’d have to be pretty lucky to find cooperative owls again but if not there should be plenty of other birds to work with. The biggest challenge on this trip is likely to be light. Red Rocks is right on the continental divide and early summer weather up there is volatile and often down-right scary – especially when you’re pulling a camping trailer over 30 miles of dirt roads! These trips are…

Kiting Male Northern Harrier

On this morning at Farmington Bay we weren’t having very much luck with birds so Mia suggested that we hang out next to a high dike where the south wind was creating an updraft that we’d seen a male Northern Harrier kiting in earlier. Despite the less than perfect light angle it turned out to be another one of Mia’s good ideas because it wasn’t long before the harrier returned to play in the updrafts and hunt the dike edges. 1/1600, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Two things made this an especially interesting situation – the fact that the harrier was kiting (giving us more time with the bird) and the variety of backgrounds we got when the harrier would move just a few feet in the air. It was a partly cloudy day and the bird was usually hanging just above the snow-covered Wasatch Range to the east so at times I got thin white clouds in the background, or a mix of clouds and blue sky, or both sky and mountains or the mountains alone. Throw into that mix the fact that the light was constantly changing because of the clouds and you’ll understand the exposure difficulties that morning. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Because of the challenging light angle much of the harrier was often backlit but the head turn in this shot giving light on the head and eye made this image work for me. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f/4 Here the light was…

American Kestrel Preening on a Rabbitbrush Perch

American Kestrels are pugnacious and skittish little falcons that are usually difficult to approach. But last week I found a cooperative male warming himself in the early morning sun while perched on rabbitbrush. Though feisty by nature this kestrel looked almost cuddly while all puffed up against the cold and nestled into the bush. 1/2000, f/8, ISO 500, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I first approached him head-on which gave me some images where bird and perch combined to produce a pyramid shape that I liked. 1/3200, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But then I maneuvered to get a different angle so that at least part of the tail would be visible. In these early shots my camera settings were meant to give me enough shutter speed for the take-off that I fully expected. 1/2000, f/7.1, ISO 250, 500 f/4 But when he began to groom contentedly I started fiddling with my settings to get shutter speeds and depth of field more appropriate for the situation. Here he is passing one of his tail feathers through his bill in typical preening behavior. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 250, 500 f/4 He gave me a variety of preening poses that I liked. 1/1250, f/8, ISO 250, 500 f/4 Some of the neck feathers are difficult to reach so they go through some strange contortions in an effort to get to them. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 320, 500 f/4 Here the eye was half closed but I was still able to get a catch light. …

Lazuli Buntings of the San Rafael Swell

For me Lazuli Buntings have long been an elusive subject. Though they’re common in the western U.S. I rarely see them near my home and when I’ve found them in my travels they either won’t let me get close or they’re buried in thickets where I can’t get clean shots of them. All that changed on an early June photo/camping trip to Utah’s remote and visually stunning San Rafael Swell. 1/1600, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I found the males singing on territory and more cooperative than usual since their preferred singing perch was at the top of low shrubs and they were often so involved with their melodious territorial declarations that they sometimes let me approach them quite closely. This one is perched on greasewood which provided some nice green colors in this arid habitat that they prefer. I like this good look at the bi-colored bill of the species. 1/1250, f/7.1, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc At times one of these males would give me a clean perch and background for a typical “bird on a stick” image. 1/1250, f/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc But more often than not the perch would be more cluttered. Here I’m less than happy with the out of focus twigs in the foreground but I liked the cottonwood “cotton” stuck to the bill. The unusual background color is from the Entrada Sandstone so common in the area. 1/1250, f/8, ISO 200, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’ve seldom seen birds get so…

Just a Shot That I Like… #7 – Ring-necked Pheasant Roosting In Tree

Many folks think of Ring-necked Pheasants as strictly ground dwelling birds but that’s simply not the case. These pheasants regularly roost in trees at night and the following morning they will often be active in the roost tree for up to an hour before descending to the ground for the rest of the day. 1/800, f/8, ISO 800, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc Virtually every time I’ve seen these birds in trees it’s been on very cold, sunny mornings so I’ve always had the impression that they’re sunning themselves to warm up a bit. Usually they flush to the ground for cover before I can get close enough for quality photos but this cooperative male apparently decided that his chill was more of a threat to him than I was. He let me shoot away from close range for quite a while even though he was perhaps 20′ up in the tree and on a very exposed branch. Long-tailed birds like pheasants and magpies can present difficult compositional problems when cropping for presentation but I though this vertical crop worked out well with him on the diagonal perch. Ron

Strange Encounter with a Northern Harrier and a Junco

For me, life just doesn’t get much better than when I’m watching interesting or unusual bird behaviors up close. I was photographing this male Northern Harrier out my pickup window while it was perched on the clump of snow-bent vegetation you see in the image below when I heard a soft scratching sound coming from the front of my truck. I quickly glanced to my right and noticed that a Dark-eyed Junco had landed square in the middle of the hood of the truck. I thought that was unusual of course but I was more interested in the harrier so I quickly turned back to watching him through my viewfinder and it immediately became apparent that the harrier was now fixated on that junco. 1/3200, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc I’ve spent hundreds of hours watching and photographing harriers and it’s virtually unheard of for one to take off in my direction when I’m this close to the bird. Usually the direction of take off is away from me or if I’m lucky it might be either to my left or right. But this one had apparently decided that it wanted junco for lunch and when it launched it immediately turned slightly and headed straight toward the junco on my truck hood. 1/3200, f/8, ISO 400, 500 f/4, 1.4 tc If you look carefully at the harriers eyes in all four shots you’ll notice that he isn’t really focused on me – instead he’s looking slightly to my right, directly at the junco on the hood of the…

Tag: male