![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-4274-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-4274-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI visited the west desert three days ago and found Red-tailed hawks on the nest.<\/p>\n
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1\/5000, 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 Their nest was high on a cliff, so it was difficult to see if there were any hawks on it unless one of them came to the nest’s edge. I composed this photo in an attempt to show as much of the nest as possible.<\/p>\n I’m pretty sure this is the male of the pair, about to take off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, 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 In this situation I usually have a hard time getting the bird sharp when it takes off because, with the background so very close my camera usually focuses on it, resulting in a soft bird.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, 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 this time, with the combined efforts of camera and operator, I managed to get…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, 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 sharp shots during and after his takeoff.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/5000, 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 He ended up landing fairly close to his mate, that I hadn’t even seen until he landed there. That’s the male on the right, with his slightly larger mate at upper left.<\/p>\n I plan on watching this nest all spring and early summer in anticipation of recently fledged youngsters. Clumsy, curious and playful young red-tails are one of my favorite photographic subjects.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention another interesting experience I had that morning. Just a few minutes before I found the red-tails at their nest I decided to turn my pickup around so I could photograph some wild turkeys that were on the wrong side of the road as I passed them.<\/p>\n As I was in the process of turning around, an absolutely huge flock of Ring-necked Pheasants moved up onto the road in front of me. There were at least 200 of them, probably more, and as far as I could tell every last one of them was a rooster in breeding plumage – no females. Then, before I could even grab my camera (my hands were full of steering wheel), the flock took off in a whirr of noisy wings, with stragglers continuing to follow behind them.<\/p>\n Never in my life have I seen such a huge, tight flock of pheasants, all of them roosters. It definitely got my attention but sadly, no photos. I wasn’t happy with my turkey photos either.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Note: The pheasant phenomenon I described above may not be as unusual as I thought it was. For reasons unrelated to this post, I’ve been in recent contact with Montana master falconer Jim Wagner. When I told Jim about my pheasant experience, he responded with this:<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/red-tailed-hawk-4277-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-4277-ron-dudley\\"")
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