{"id":17267,"date":"2013-07-30T04:00:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-30T10:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=17267"},"modified":"2013-07-30T04:59:31","modified_gmt":"2013-07-30T10:59:31","slug":"the-tamest-prairie-falcon-of-them-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/30\/the-tamest-prairie-falcon-of-them-all\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tamest Prairie Falcon Of Them All"},"content":{"rendered":"

In yesterday’s post about grasshopper-eating Prairie Falcons I promised that today’s post would also be about Prairie Falcons.\u00a0 It is, but only one of them – probably the most approachable larger falcon that I’ve ever encountered in the wild.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"prairie<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a01\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Two things were immediately obvious as I \u00a0very slowly drove up on this bird – it was eating a grasshopper and it was banded.\u00a0 In fact it had two bands.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"prairie<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a01\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As I got closer it didn’t fly off, as expected.\u00a0 It just stood there on the post with the breeze ruffling its feathers and looked quite\u00a0at ease\u00a0– perhaps the slightly bulging crop contributed to its contentment.\u00a0 At this point I also noticed that there were dried remnants of a recent meal on its bill.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"prairie<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1600, f\/4.5, ISO 800, 500 f\/4, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Soon it flew down and\u00a0ate another grasshopper\u00a0and then\u00a0landed on\u00a0a different\u00a0fence post.\u00a0 This time it let me get even closer (as usual I was shooting from my pickup)\u00a0and was undisturbed by my presence.\u00a0 I was so surprised that it didn’t fly\u00a0you could have, well… knocked me over with a feather.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"prairie<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a01\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

After hunting grasshoppers once again it landed on a third post and this time I was as close as I wanted to get.\u00a0 As you can see, the falcon didn’t care and was comfortable enough to yawn leisurely but enthusiastically.<\/p>\n

My fear with being so near the falcon was that I’d clip body parts as it took off, which is exactly what happened.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"prairie<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a01\/1250, f\/6.3, ISO 400, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in, canvas added for composition<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

By\u00a0 this time I was near enough to the bird that I had to shoot vertically and this was the only lift off shot I got that didn’t clip its wings.\u00a0 As it was I had to add canvas to the image because the bird was too tight in the frame.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"prairie<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a01\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc, natural light, not baited, set up or called in, canvas added for composition<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0My consolation for the clipped shots was that the falcon landed on the ground very close to me and gave me this\u00a0soulful look with a partially spread tail in what I thought was interesting side light.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"prairie<\/a><\/p>\n

I’ll admit to being extremely curious about the origin of the two bands on the falcon.\u00a0 I wondered if they could be falconry bands\u00a0but Prairie Falcons are seldom used by falconers so my best guess was that the purpose of the bands\u00a0was scientific research.\u00a0 I sent a couple of photos to master falconer Mark Runnels and asked him about his thoughts on the matter.\u00a0 He made the following observations:<\/p>\n