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![\"prairie](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/prairie-falcon-5201-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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1\/2500, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4x<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I photographed this falcon in July of 2013 at Montana’s Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. At first the bird was perched but just as a violent storm squall moved in (with attendant high winds and dark, threatening clouds) it began to\u00a0hunt grasshoppers in the short grass.\u00a0 It was so dark and windy (the wind was catching my lens hood and bouncing my lens around) that I knew I’d have to use extraordinary measures to get sufficient shutter speeds for sharp shots so I deliberately underexposed the images (allowing for more SS)\u00a0and hoped I could rescue the photos during processing. This is the best I could do but I’d rather have the bird sharp and the image quality poor than a soft bird with marginally better IQ.<\/p>\n It wasn’t easy to follow the falcon with a bouncing lens as it hunted\u00a0frenetically but here I like the wing position and that large falcon foot poised to pounce on an unseen (by us)\u00a0grasshopper.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/1250, f\/5.6, ISO 800, Canon 7D, Canon EF500mm f\/4L IS USM +1.4x<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A couple of minutes later it had become even darker (notice that my shutter speed has been reduced by half) as the bird jumped forward to pounce on another grasshopper.\u00a0 At this stage in their metamorphosis\u00a0the insects had wings and through my lens I could see them frantically trying to fly out of harms way.\u00a0 Here you can see one of them in flight above the tip of the falcons left wing.<\/p>\n Prairie Falcons have been scarce to nonexistent on Antelope Island this winter but recently I’ve seen two of them out there.\u00a0 I suspect that’s because of the recent spring\u00a0influx of Western Meadowlarks and Horned\u00a0Larks so I do have hopes of photographing them again soon.<\/p>\n Maybe this time I’ll get some light.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Grasshoppers are not typical prey for Prairie Falcons. Studies indicate that the main foods taken are other birds (Horned Larks and meadowlarks are favorites), small mammals and lizards but in a pinch they do consume flying insects, including grasshoppers. This bird was intent on doing just that.<\/p>\n![\"prairie](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/prairie-falcon-5243-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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