{"id":119423,"date":"2022-09-21T05:51:09","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T11:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=119423"},"modified":"2022-09-21T07:53:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-21T13:53:42","slug":"swainsons-hawk-hunting-foray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2022\/09\/21\/swainsons-hawk-hunting-foray\/","title":{"rendered":"Swainson’s Hawk Hunting Foray"},"content":{"rendered":"

Going out and coming back.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 800, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

Two days ago I found this intermediate morph Swainson’s Hawk hunting from atop this olive tree. Based on his behavior it was obvious that ‘he’ was actively hunting so I waited for takeoff and hoped against hope to get photos of him with prey. That didn’t happen but I did get takeoff and flight shots of him going both ways and photos of him on the ground, sans prey..<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 320, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

It took six minutes for him to spot potential prey in the freshly mowed hayfield across the road and on my right. He had to avoid the tree branch directly in front of him, which slowed his takeoff as he gained elevation before proceeding, so I got several photos similar to this one. Very soon after this shot was taken my pickup’s windshield prevented me from getting any more flight shots.<\/p>\n

But I saw where he landed in the hayfield on my right, so I drove forward and turned around in hopes that he’d still be there when I got into position again.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

He was. I suspect he’d been after a grasshopper (although a vole is another possibility) but if he caught anything he’d already snarfed it down before I got into position.<\/p>\n

I strongly suspected that he’d return to the same tree for some more hunting so I waited for takeoff again. It was a long wait, which tried my patience, but eventually…<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

he took off again, initially to my right.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

In this photo we can’t see most of his head, or his eye, but I’m including it to document the large pile of cut hay that his talons brought up when he took off.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

In the next shot most of the clump of hay had reached its apex and was beginning to fall back to the ground but…<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

some of it remained stuck to his talons.<\/p>\n

At this point he began a long, sweeping turn to his right in order to…<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

return to his previous hunting perch, which meant that he’d have to fly right over the top of my pickup.<\/p>\n

I got many more photos of him as he was coming my way but because of the side light and his continuing turn, this is the last shot I got for a long time that had any light on his face.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

Finally, 18 shots later, he’d turned far enough to his right to put a catch light in his left eye. This isn’t my favorite photo of him, but it shows that by this time nearly all of the hay had fallen off of his closed talons.<\/p>\n

As expected, he returned to the same hunting perch so I could have turned my pickup around a second time and attempted to photograph a similar process all over again, but I chose to drive down the road and look for other birds.<\/p>\n

Which was probably a mistake because these were the last decent shots I got all morning.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Going out and coming back. (9 photos)<\/p>\n

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