![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-2995-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough-legged-hawk-2995-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nBeautiful warm light can make me overlook some shortcomings. Mostly.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n At Bear River MBR early yesterday this immature Rough-legged Hawk posed for me on several perches. A little earlier while I was photographing an adult male roughie I was having trouble with heat waves in the cold morning air so those photos were soft but when I got this younger bird in my viewfinder that problem had cleared up. I’m not particularly fond of most unnatural perches but when I get beautiful warm morning light on a cooperative and handsome raptor like this one I can mostly overlook them.<\/p>\n When this photo was taken I was after takeoff and flight shots so I’d removed my teleconverter to give me more room in the frame. Those takeoff shots didn’t happen.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n For this photo I was using my tc so I was optically closer to the bird which allowed for a little more detail with him larger in the frame.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I photographed several roughies yesterday but one of them stood out for its approachability.<\/p>\n Roughies are a true arctic species that spend most of the year in tundra or taiga in arctic and subarctic Alaska and Canada. After spending so much time in true wilderness they tend to be unusually spooky and unapproachable when they arrive down here for the winter months. Even the young ones.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But yesterday morning this bird was an exception. ‘He’ was on this sign right next to the relatively narrow auto tour loop road which meant I had to drive very close to him to proceed. When I did so the passenger side of my pickup was only about 10′ from him so I fully expected him to fly off. But amazingly he stuck! It almost seemed like if I’d been in the passenger seat I could have reached out and touched him as I drove by.<\/p>\n This shot was taken after I passed him and had better light (high clouds were passing over at the time).\u00a0The photo amuses me because it appears as if he thinks he’s a traffic cop enforcing the directions on the sign.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Oh, and by the way. Do you remember the male American Kestrel I posted photos of yesterday as he was perched in a tree while stretching and trying to hack up a pellet?<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, f\/6.3, ISO 320, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Yesterday morning he was once again in the same tree and on one of the two same perches. And yup, he was stretching again.<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-2980-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough-legged-hawk-2980-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/rough-legged-hawk-3017-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough-legged-hawk-3017-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/american-kestrel-3090-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-kestrel-3090-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n