{"id":164415,"date":"2024-09-25T06:03:48","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T12:03:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=164415"},"modified":"2024-09-25T06:25:33","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T12:25:33","slug":"playing-peekaboo-with-a-red-tailed-hawk-in-the-rocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/25\/playing-peekaboo-with-a-red-tailed-hawk-in-the-rocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Playing Peekaboo With A Red-tailed Hawk In The Rocks"},"content":{"rendered":"

I almost gave up on this bird. I’m glad I didn’t.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

Three days ago I was lucky to spot this immature Red-tailed Hawk peeking down at me from near the top of a cliff. “He” had a good view of me but I could only see his head, neck and upper breast. We stared at each other for quite a while and eventually I decided to give up on him and look for birds elsewhere. I didn’t need any more shots like this one.<\/p>\n

But at the last second I realized that I had a chance at a better look at him if I slowly drove further forward to see if he’d be in view after I got past the large rock in front of him. So that’s what I did.<\/p>\n

But as I was driving forward, the road I was on got closer to the base of the cliff, which completely blocked my view of the bird for a while. At that point I didn’t know if he’d eventually reappear. Or not.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

But I continued to drive forward and eventually I could see him again. The rock that had been blocking him is the one that mostly fills the left half of the frame. From this angle he was side lit but at least he was mostly out in the open.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

A different composition of the same photo, just for the heck of it.<\/p>\n

At this point I was hoping for takeoff and flight shots but I knew that if he took off in the direction his body was facing, I’d almost certainly not have any light on his face. My best chance for light on his face would be if he took off to my right or directly toward me while he was looking to his left.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, he chose the latter.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

1\/4000, f\/5.6, ISO 500, Canon R5, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

I only got one flight shot I like and I like it quite a lot. In all my photos after this one I either cut off body parts or his face was in the shade of his wings.<\/p>\n

But one is a helluva lot better than none, so I’ll take it.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

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Addendum: In case you’re curious about some of the photos I reject, here’s the next shot in the burst.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

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

I almost gave up on this bird. I’m glad I didn’t. (4 photos)<\/p>\n

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