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.
Believe it or not it was at that moment that a Loggerhead Shrike with a chip on its shoulder swooped in out of nowhere to harass the hawk. Because I was ready for it I was able to get two shots with both birds in the frame. In this first one I don’t believe the hawk yet knows the shrike is there.
The Centennial Valley had one more surprise in store as we left for home last Thursday morning. Photographing birds and other wildlife along the 27 mile long dirt road while I’m pulling the camping trailer is always awkward but the road is typically deserted that time of day and we’ve come up with something special more than once on the way out.
I’m no authority on the highly variable color variations of the Red-tailed Hawk but I believe this bird to be an intermediate-morph adult. I love these rufous-colored hawks.
Ten days ago I reported on the progress of the three Red-tailed Hawk nestlings I’ve been following out in the west desert. At that time several of my readers requested that I keep folks up to date on these birds as they approach fledging. This post is my attempt to do so.
The only common theme running through all of these images is that the subjects are all “birds of prey” (phrase used loosely). Each photo was taken within the past year.
Yesterday was the first time I’ve been able to photograph mating buteos in the wild.
In January I spent a few days with this adult Red-tail as it was hunting voles from power poles in Tooele County. Those blasted poles and wires are a real problem for the photographer.
Two years ago this juvenile Red-tailed Hawk hunted the same area of Antelope Island for much of the summer.
I believe this to be a perspective on a landing raptor that one seldom sees in a photograph. It may not be to everyone’s taste but I found it interesting nonetheless.
This is a simple example of how changing the crop of a photograph can drastically alter one’s perspective on the image.
I like the backgrounds provided by western mountains for birds in flight but as I’ve said previously backdrops with texture make it more difficult to get sharp focus lock on the bird.
When a raptor dives on prey from an elevated perch one has the opportunity for fairly dramatic flight shots because of the angle of attack and wing position.
