![\"red-tailed-hawk-8401\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/red-tailed-hawk-8401.jpg\" "\\"red-tailed-hawk-8401\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\nCanon 7D, 1\/2000, f\/6.3, EV -0.67,\u00a0ISO 640, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n We found them deep in a canyon of\u00a0one of the many “island mountain ranges” of Utah’s west desert. \u00a0 There were at least a half-dozen of them hanging out together, many of them juveniles.\u00a0 The lighting at the bottom of the canyon in early morning was often filtered and spotty and the perches were\u00a0usually dead trees with lots of branches going every which way so the backgrounds and settings were\u00a0typically busy.\u00a0\u00a0This is one of the cleaner shots I got of one on a perch in the canyon bottom.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/2000, f\/6.3,\u00a0ISO 640,EV -1.00, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n This one chose a juniper perch\u00a0which would provide a clean background for a takeoff shot so\u00a0I tried to leave room in front of the bird just in case.\u00a0 I was looking slightly down on\u00a0the hawk when it launched\u00a0and I liked the good look at the topside of the bird in this shot\u00a0but do wish it had been looking more my way.\u00a0 But then I probably wouldn’t have any light on the eye – sometimes you just can’t win…<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/1250, f\/6.3,\u00a0ISO 640 \u00a0EV +0.33, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n Shooting these hawks in flight was very<\/em> frustrating!\u00a0 Each morning they would pretty much stay perched at the bottom of the canyon until about 9 AM, then when the breeze picked up they would begin to soar up and down the canyon.\u00a0 But by 9 AM the sun is starting to get high enough that it becomes very difficult to get any light under the wings.\u00a0 They would often come very close to us (you’ll notice in my techs\u00a0that I’ve taken my teleconverter off for many of these shots)\u00a0but I was shooting from inside my\u00a0pickup.\u00a0 Imagine the frustration when one of these birds would fly within 40-50 feet of me but it was at the\u00a0wrong angle to get the shot\u00a0through the vehicle window.\u00a0\u00a0That happened more times than I want to remember.\u00a0 Occasionally I would get out of my truck and hand hold\u00a0the lens but shooting a very heavy 500mm\u00a0lens is physically demanding and it wouldn’t take long before muscle fatigue caused my arms to shake – not a good thing when you’re effectively shooting at 1120 mm much of the time.\u00a0\u00a0 Couldn’t use the tripod because the hawks would hang around for a couple of minutes then go on their merry way down or up canyon so I was constantly on the move.\u00a0 Immensely frustrating and incredibly fun at the same time – bird photographers will understand the apparent contradiction of that statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/400, f\/14,\u00a0ISO 640 \u00a0EV -0.67, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n I was photographing these two birds (I believe them to be juvenile siblings) when something interesting happened.\u00a0 I had to take off the\u00a0teleconverter to get them both in the frame and I was fiddling with my settings to try to get enough depth of field to get them both sharp (notice I’m at f\/14 here).\u00a0 I didn’t fully succeed with the hawk on the left.\u00a0 Suddenly the bird\u00a0on the left, who seemed lethargic and sleepy,\u00a0became more animated.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/1250, f\/7.1,\u00a0ISO 640 \u00a0EV -0.67, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n It looked like it was choking or had what humans often call the “dry heaves”.\u00a0 I immediately knew that it was about to hack up a pellet so I quickly changed to f\/7.1 and started firing off bursts in hopes of catching the moment that the pellet came out.\u00a0 I took a lot of shots in the next 20 seconds or so (the burst rate of the 7D is 8 frames\/second so you can imagine that I burned up a lot of pixels in that short time).\u00a0 I’ve cropped pretty tightly in the next two images to hopefully give a closer and better look at the pellet.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/1600, f\/7.1,\u00a0ISO 640 \u00a0EV -0.67, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n Here the pellet is just beginning to emerge.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/1250, f\/7.1,\u00a0ISO 640 \u00a0EV -0.67, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n And in this shot the pellet (sometimes called a bolus) has just left the mouth.\u00a0 I remember seeing it fall out of frame at the bottom through the viewfinder but these are the only two shots that show the pellet.\u00a0 If you’re interested in the biology of pellet casting I’ve photographed a Northern Harrier expelling a pellet and explained why many birds do it here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Canon 7D, 1\/800, f\/6.3,\u00a0ISO\u00a0500\u00a0\u00a0EV +0.67, 500 f\/4<\/em><\/p>\n Another part of the frustration of those two mornings was getting autofocus to “lock on” to the birds when the canyon walls in the background were close to the hawks in flight.\u00a0 These birds were often flying very close to those canyon walls and in those conditions autofocus wants to lock on to the background instead of the bird.\u00a0 It is immensely difficult to get a fast-moving bird sharp in flight with\u00a0a very contrasty background so close to the bird, which is aggravating because to me a background like that is so much more interesting than just blue sky.\u00a0 In this shot the canyon wall was much further away so autofocus was able to lock on to the bird.\u00a0 I like the unusual look at the topside of this soaring hawk but I’m not particularly fond of the tan diagonal streak in the background.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Canon 7D, 1\/1600, f\/6.3,\u00a0ISO\u00a0640,\u00a0\u00a0EV +1.00, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n I enjoy this image because of the direct look back at me I got from the hawk and because\u00a0there’s some clouds\u00a0to break up the blue sky background and add some interest.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n 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