![\"ferruginous-hawk-3128\"](\"http:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/ferruginous-hawk-3128.jpg\" "\\"ferruginous-hawk-3128\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a01\/1250, f\/7.1, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n I found this bird earlier this week and spent quite a\u00a0while “sneaking” up on it very slowly\u00a0in my pickup.\u00a0 \u00a0 I ended up getting reasonably close before it\u00a0 flew off.\u00a0 The hawk is relaxed enough with me in its presence to perform a nice wing stretch.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n These birds tend to hunt\u00a0high off the ground and no matter how slowly I try to approach them while they’re in the air they usually maintain a minimum distance from my truck that is too far away\u00a0for good photographs.\u00a0\u00a0 Very occasionally however one will apparently become curious about me and fly in close – always with its eye on me and not on any potential prey on the ground.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s usually one quick fly by and the bird is gone.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/4000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n Obviously this hawk is taking off,\u00a0which\u00a0I hoped for as is\u00a0evidenced by my high (too high)\u00a0shutter speed.\u00a0 \u00a0And it actually took off toward me which is quite unusual.\u00a0 Head on flight shots are difficult though and I only got two after it took off – one where I clipped a wing feather and another where the head wasn’t quite as sharp as I like.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/800, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em><\/p>\n I liked this image because of the fanned tail, demonstrating that this species lacks the dark tail banding found in other hawks.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a01\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, 500 f\/4, 1.4 tc<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n Here’s a couple of images that illustrate additional reasons why this species is difficult to photograph well.\u00a0 \u00a0Ferruginous Hawks, when not hunting from relatively high elevations, like to rest on tall perches – particularly ugly telephone poles.\u00a0 So your best bet for a decent shot is to catch them taking off so the perch doesn’t show in the image (thus my high shutter speed again).\u00a0 But of course this one took off away from me so I trashed the shots.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0Another issue with photographing this species is the relatively bright whites of the chest.\u00a0 In light that is at all harsh (from the shadow on the perch\u00a0you can see that the sun is already fairly high) it’s often difficult to get much detail in the whites without blocking up the darks, especially if the bird is facing the sun.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n