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<\/p>\nRaptors can be ingenious in adapting their hunting techniques and available skills to the terrain they are hunting\u00a0and this juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk was a perfect example of such flexibility. Though I never did photograph the bird in the process of hunting in flight I’ll do my best to describe its technique using photos as I describe what I observed.<\/p>\n
First, let me set the stage.<\/p>\n
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The almost 30 mile long South Road in Montana’s Centennial Valley is notoriously rough but it has been much improved in recent years as it has been regularly graded, elevated and smoothed out.\u00a0 In the process graders typically tilt their blade at an angle of about 45 degrees along both road edges which creates a very steep and\u00a0narrow trough along the side of the road (which can make turning around for a bird in a full-sized pickup a real adventure…). In most places the trough is narrower and steeper than this but I didn’t think to take photos of those areas. Sorry about my shadow in the photo, I couldn’t avoid it…<\/p>\n
Soon after dawn on my first morning in the valley last week I found a juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk hunting this trough for small birds. It had been 14 degrees just a few minutes earlier so the birds were hunkered down along the edge of the vegetation and the Sharpie was hungry after a long, cold night. I watched as the hawk flew low and slow in this trough along the length of the road in its attempt to ambush birds. It was flying so low in the wedge-shaped trough that it couldn’t fully extend its wings but even so I was blown away by how slow it was able to fly.<\/p>\n
The hawk hunted the trough in front of me for about a quarter-mile\u00a0as I slowly drove the road and watched the technique in amazement. It would occasionally stop to rest and it was only during those times that I was able to get any photos of the bird. On this morning I didn’t see it catch any birds but just watching it hunt using that technique\u00a0for that long was something I won’t soon forget.<\/p>\n
Following are some of the photos of the hawk I was able to get during its rest stops.<\/p>\n
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\u00a01\/400, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I first encountered the bird in very warm light\u00a0soon after leaving camp as it rested and tried to warm up a little on a fence pole perch. At this point I wasn’t very close to the bird but I fired off a few shots anyway.\u00a0Seconds later it flew down to the trough and began to hunt.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 1600, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Here the hawk is mostly resting again along the road edge but I could tell by its demeanor and posture that it was almost constantly scanning the trough for potential prey.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/1000, f\/6.3, ISO 1000, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n Another rest stop. I include this photo because it shows how steep the trough is (the bird is standing on the edge of it and it extends to the upper right in the photo).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/800, f\/8, ISO 1000, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n This time its resting spot is a rock, again on the edge of the trough which extends in the direction the hawk is looking (and hunting).<\/p>\n At this point I moved on down the road and let the bird hunt in peace. I don’t remember seeing this bird again for exactly five days.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a01\/3200, f\/5.6, ISO 1600, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon<\/em> EF500mm f\/4L IS II USM +1.4, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n But on the morning I left the valley and headed home I found it again. And yup, it was hunting the trough again but this time it was on the right side of the road and it already had prey. I didn’t see it until it flew out of the trough and across the road in front of me. I was pulling the camping trailer so it took me a little extra time to get stopped and I fired off a few shots from far away\u00a0as it disappeared to the south. The fact that it had prey and flew out of the trough is evidence of the effectiveness of this apparently tried and true hunting technique.<\/p>\n I wish I had taken photos of the hawk hunting the trough. I could have done it but at the time my goal in this low light was high quality perched shots rather than documentary images of hunting\u00a0behavior in flight.<\/p>\n Maybe next time…<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n \n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Raptors can be ingenious in adapting their hunting techniques and available skills to the terrain they are hunting and this juvenile Sharp-shinned Hawk was a perfect example of such flexibility. <\/p>\n![\"sharp-shinned](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/sharp-shinned-hawk-8742-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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