whiskey delivery to Jaimi Butler<\/a><\/span><\/span> on Antelope Island paid off with an unexpected close-up encounter with a female American Kestrel along the causeway on my way home.\u00a0 She was hunting intensely, alternating between hovering over potential prey and perch-hunting, so she paid little attention to me.<\/p>\nBut the light angle was a problem. She was always on the south side of the causeway so she was side lit or partially back lit. And she usually had her back to me. The only time I had a side view of her she was on this perch where she allowed me to take many photos but I’ll be damned if I could get a catch light in her eye. The thick clouds that had moved in earlier while I was talking to Jaimi didn’t help.<\/p>\n
But she was very patient with me and for that I’m grateful.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/american-kestrel-1141-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-kestrel-1141-ron-dudley\\"")
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1\/1600, f\/5.6, 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>\nA few minutes later, while she was hunting from another perch, I managed to get some light in her eye while she had her back to me. I was unusually close to her, especially for a normally skittish kestrel, so I had to take these shots vertically to keep her comfortably in frame.<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/shoveler-9995-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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1\/500, f\/13, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 114mm<\/em><\/p>\nIf you’re local and have the opportunity I highly recommend a trip to the island if for nothing more than to experience the hundreds of thousands of Northern Shovelers near the west end of the causeway.<\/p>\n
They’re quite close to the road and there’s so many of them I couldn’t come close to fitting them all in the frame, even in photos like this one taken with my “baby lens” at only 114mm. There’s a few other species mixed in but in the very brief time I spent with them they appeared to be mostly shovelers.<\/p>\n
But there’s at least one bird in this photo that very obviously isn’t a shoveler. Can you spot it?<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/bald-eagle-amongst-shovelers-9995-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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An adult Bald Eagle (circled in red) hanging around the pantry for the next time it got hungry. It’s almost like the pantry was so full all the eagle had to do was open the door and a few shovelers would fall out.<\/p>\n
OK, I’ll fess up to something a little embarrassing. My intention was to get a shooting angle on the shovelers that allowed me to get as many of them in frame as possible so I drove right past that eagle without spotting it. I didn’t even know it was there until I looked at my photos at home. If I’d known it was there I’d have hung around with my big lens in an attempt to capture the eagle hunting shovelers, which had the potential of getting some pretty spectacular photos.<\/p>\n
Once again my far from 20\/20 visual acuity bit me in the butt.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
And an avian spectacle along the Antelope Island causeway. (4 images)<\/p>\n
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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/american-kestrel-0969-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-kestrel-0969-ron-dudley\\"")
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