{"id":36579,"date":"2016-01-13T04:36:42","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T11:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=36579"},"modified":"2016-01-13T09:30:09","modified_gmt":"2016-01-13T16:30:09","slug":"an-extremely-tame-rough-legged-hawk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/13\/an-extremely-tame-rough-legged-hawk\/","title":{"rendered":"An Extremely “Tame” Rough-legged Hawk"},"content":{"rendered":"

The occasional wild raptor is\u00a0unusually approachable but I’ve rarely had that happen with\u00a0a Rough-legged Hawk. They spend much of the year in the arctic and subarctic so when\u00a0they come down here for the winter\u00a0they’re unaccustomed to the trappings of man and tend to be shy and skittish.<\/p>\n

This\u00a0adult male (I believe)\u00a0was\u00a0a notable\u00a0exception.<\/p>\n

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\"rough-legged1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Whenever possible I try to avoid flushing birds, raptors especially, but sometimes when they’re along the road you’re traveling you have little choice.\u00a0Yesterday morning just after dawn this\u00a0hawk was perched on a\u00a0sign along the loop road at Bear River MBR. I’d seen several others of the species on my way to the refuge but each of them flew off when I was a couple of hundred yards away so I fully expected this bird to do the same thing. It didn’t.<\/p>\n

I set up for flight shots when I was still some distance away but the hawk had no intention of leaving its perch so eventually I crept forward on the road and wondered when it would fly off. When I was roughly 40′ from it and the bird amazingly was still there\u00a0I pulled off and just watched it rather than continue on my way and force it off\u00a0the\u00a0ugly, leaning\u00a0sign that it apparently\u00a0loved so much.<\/p>\n

For a total of 23 minutes it didn’t even flinch as it sat there warming in the morning sun. I was much too close to use my 500mm lens even with the tc removed so I switched to the zoom for these two shots.<\/p>\n

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\"rough-legged<\/p>\n

1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 400mm, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

After a good long while the hawk began to stir and\u00a0leisurely stretched its wing and tail so I figured it was thinking about vacating the premises but it took its good sweet time in doing so. Naturally I missed the take-off shots because I was reaching for my\u00a0camcorder when it happened but it gave me some satisfaction that I hadn’t forced the bird off its perch.<\/p>\n

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