<\/p>\n
![\"rough-legged](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-1606-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I found this Rough-legged Hawk in Tooele County, Utah 6 days ago as it was\u00a0hunting voles from power poles along a rural road.\u00a0When the bird roused vigorously (to the point that it lost a feather) I figured that it would take off soon and it did but its direction of flight was away from me so I deleted all those shots.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a01\/5000, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n But 40 minutes later I found what I believe to be the same bird on a different pole and decided to try again.\u00a0\u00a0Eventually the bird pooped so I was fairly confident that it was about to take off.\u00a0 By now there was a\u00a0noticeable south wind coming from behind me so I hoped the bird would turn on its perch and fly in my direction but it fooled me a little by waiting until the moment of take-off…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n and twisting toward me\u00a0on its perch as it launched in my direction.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/5000, f\/7.1, ISO 800, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n As the hawk flew past me I was able to get several shots I like pretty well and this is one of them.\u00a0 (I should practice what I preach – it was a mistake to be at ISO 800 for most of these images)<\/p>\n This bird was acclimated to traffic along the road and would\u00a0sometimes remain perched for a long time before leaving the pole.\u00a0 Like most nature photographers I’m not a fan of power poles as perches so I’d much rather get them in flight but it’s very difficult to maintain\u00a0a “hair-trigger” for 10-20 minutes. So it’s\u00a0extremely helpful to be able to anticipate\u00a0take-off.<\/p>\n I’ve covered this subject in a previous post but I thing it’s worth an occasional revisit.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n Note: It’s never a good idea to repeatedly “bump” a bird from perch to perch in order to get a photo.\u00a0 Doing so disturbs the bird and wastes its energy.\u00a0 While I was photographing this\u00a0hawk I remained in my pickup and most traffic didn’t affect the birds behavior or make it leave its perch (although if a large, noisy truck came by the hawk would sometimes fly to another pole down the line).<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Knowing behaviors of your subject can be a great help in anticipating raptor take-off and bird photographers need all the help we can get.<\/p>\n![\"rough-legged](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-1902b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"rough-legged](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-1905-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"rough-legged](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/rough-legged-hawk-1909-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n