This first photo isn’t a classic buteo flight shot but I believe it’s fairly unique for a non-baited image. I’ve occasionally been able to capture raptors as they’re about to land on a predictable perch but this is the first and only time I’ve been able to get a shot I like pretty well of a raptor as it’s about to (or attempt to) “land” on prey it’s seen from a far-away perch.
I’m often surprised and impressed by the dexterity and athleticism of larger raptors as they take off through a maze of tree branches or other obstructions.
I love the coloration of this bird and always appreciate getting wispy clouds mixed with blue sky in the background.
I spent yesterday morning in the Wasatch Mountains looking for raptors and other birds. I had my best luck with Red-tailed Hawks.
My recent camping trip to the Mojave Desert of southwestern Utah was slow on birds but I didn’t come home “skunked” either.
Raptors sometimes pull some pretty crazy maneuvers during take-off (the last 9 images in this post are sequential with no images in the sequence left out).
Sometimes when I’m photographing birds I find myself wondering “Why did that bird do that?”. Arriving at a reliable answer can be an exercise in frustration but often I can’t help myself, even when the behavior in question is a trivial one.
Sooner or later every serious nature photographer must confront the question – How much image alteration during processing is ethically “too much”?
Bird photography isn’t easy and the resulting images are often missing an essential element (or two, or more…) but sometimes I like those shots anyway. Case in point:
I photographed this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk yesterday morning near Farmington Bay as it prepared to eat a vole it had just caught.
Note: Fair warning – the second photo in this sequence is slightly graphic so sensitive folks may want to avoid scrolling further than the first image.
For some, raptors and flowers may seem like an incongruous combination but I like the contradiction.
Two days ago this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk was hunting from a sign post and everything seemed to be calm – to the point that I was enjoying the sunflowers in the setting and the irony of the sign it was perched on. That tranquility didn’t last long…
Yesterday morning at Farmington Bay I photographed this male Ring-necked Pheasant with a grotesquely deformed and overgrown mandible. These images show the problem clearly.
In my experience Red-tailed Hawks in flight most often carry prey in their talons but this molting adult surprised me a little.
