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<\/p>\nI’ve mentioned before that raptors, especially buteos, often signal imminent takeoff with one or more of four distinct behaviors – rousing, a wing stretch, pooping and turning and\/or looking into the wind (in any order). This bird gave me three of the four so I’d have had to be asleep to have missed the takeoff.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Five days ago I found this adult Red-tailed Hawk perched near the top of some lichen-covered rocks. While ‘he’ was perched the shooting angle was a little steeper than I prefer but when they take off from an elevated perch you never know how that angle might be modified in flight so I watched him through my viewfinder and hoped for the best.<\/p>\n For most of the time he was facing to my left but when he started staring over his left shoulder, the direction the breeze was coming from, I wondered if he was thinking of taking off. He could have been just scanning for prey in that direction but I prepared myself for takeoff, just in case.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n But then he pooped so I knew he was likely to take off, and soon.<\/p>\n And what a poop it was – a couple of feet long with a dark clump of digestive waste near its end. The white stuff is uric acid, a metabolic waste. Their cloaca, the chamber where both types of wastes are mixed, doesn’t mean “common sewer” for nothing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n Sure enough, he then began to turn his body into the breeze as he was performing a wing stretch. By now I was primed for takeoff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n I quite like this pre-takeoff shot, even though his nictitating membrane is partially closed.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 400, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n And then he was gone, or almost so. I’d have liked this photo better if he wasn’t looking away from me but what could I expect – that’s the direction the breeze was coming from and the direction he’d been looking prior to takeoff.<\/p>\n Every bird photographer has missed takeoffs and subsequent flight when they weren’t prepared when the bird launched. When this bird took off the only thing missing from the pre-takeoff regimen was a rouse, so if I’d have missed his launch I’d take it as a sign that it was time for me to retire my camera gear and take up knitting.<\/p>\n Thankfully I’m not there yet.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve mentioned before that larger buteos often signal imminent takeoff with one or more of four behaviors. This bird gave me three of the four so I’d have had to be asleep to have missed the takeoff. (5 photos)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/red-tailed-hawk-2405-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-2405-ron-dudley\\"")
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