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1\/1250, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS\u00a0USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nThis juvenile Red-tailed Hawk had been hunting mostly voles (once it was a small snake) two years ago on Antelope Island\u00a0from elevated rocks above me and to my right.\u00a0 Typically the voles it went after were in the flats below me and to my left so occasionally I had good opportunities for photographs\u00a0as\u00a0it swooped down after one of the rodents but usually the hawk mostly glided so great wing positions were difficult to get.<\/p>\n
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1\/2000, f\/8, ISO 400, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS\u00a0USM, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I nearly always lost focus on the bird as it approached a vole and got closer to the ground because of all the dried\u00a0moth mullein flower stalks that are ubiquitous on the island.\u00a0 There’s a mullein stalk\u00a0right in front of the face of the bird in the first image.\u00a0 I include this second\u00a0shot of the\u00a0same hawk taken 14 minutes later\u00a0to show you what I mean about shooting through all the mullein as the bird descended on prey.\u00a0\u00a0The plants\u00a0usually grabbed my autofocus so I would get sharp flower stalks and a\u00a0blurry subject (I’m hoping that the new\u00a0Canon 7D Mark\u00a02 with its much improved\u00a0autofocus system\u00a0will improve my track record in these situations).<\/p>\n But this time (first shot)\u00a0I was able to lock onto the hawk and stay locked on until it was only a foot or two from the presumed vole and that gave me a shot that I think is pretty unusual – that of a non-baited\u00a0raptor just prior to landing on (or attempting to land on)\u00a0natural prey.<\/p>\n To be perfectly honest I can’t remember if the hawk caught anything that time but I’d have to\u00a0guess that it did not.\u00a0 This juvenile was not yet a skilled hunter and most of its attempts on prey were failures (voles are fast little devils).\u00a0 That fact made me worry about the bird as winter approached.\u00a0 I hope it survived.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note:\u00a0 Continuing technical issues may\u00a0force me (for a while at least) to post in the early evenings rather than my traditional mornings.\u00a0 For those of you used to reading my blog as part of your morning routine, my apologies.\u00a0 And I may take a day or two off from blogging later this week.\u00a0 My daughter Shannon\u00a0and family from Florida will be visiting and I haven’t seen them for a very long time so I’ll just have to see what time allows.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This first photo isn’t a classic buteo flight shot but I believe it’s fairly unique for a non-baited image. I’ve occasionally been able to capture raptors as they’re about to land on a predictable perch but this is the first and only time I’ve been able to get a shot I like pretty well of a raptor as it’s about to (or attempt to) “land” on prey it’s seen from a far-away perch.<\/p>\n