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<\/p>\nOne of the biggest challenges of photographing birds at takeoff is avoiding clipped wings. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I don’t.<\/p>\n
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1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n This\u00a0Northern Harrier\u00a0was resting near the road at Farmington Bay WMA yesterday morning. It allowed me a fairly close approach (for a harrier) but it didn’t give me much variety in poses or behavior while it was perched. It made some feeble attempts at throwing a pellet (which it never did) and one time it reacted to another harrier nearby (that I never saw) by putting its other foot down, assuming a more alert pose and calling out to\u00a0the other bird. But that was about it for interesting behavior.<\/p>\n I spent\u00a014 minutes with my lens trained on the bird and waiting for takeoff. That might sound boring but it’s really pretty tense\u00a0and\u00a0lots of things are going through the photographers mind at times like this:<\/p>\n With that much time and effort invested all you can do is hope that you’ve made good choices when the bird lifts off because by then it’s just too damned late to make any adjustments.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n This bird was facing to my right so I planned on that direction for takeoff and left more room in the frame there but in an instant it twisted and took off to my left instead. Either way I’d have likely clipped the wing in this shot because it’s raised to a vertical position.\u00a0 But if I’d left more room to the left in the frame…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n I wouldn’t have clipped a wing in this shot – potentially my favorite of the series.<\/p>\n The bad news didn’t stop there. After this\u00a0image I either lost focus or cut off body parts for the next nine shots.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n By the time\u00a0my\u00a0focus point locked on to the bird again it was slightly past me. All the photographer can do in situations like this is make the best decisions you’re capable of and hope for a little luck. But in the end, to quote Mary Chapin Carpenter,…<\/p>\n “Sometimes you’re the windshield. Sometimes you’re the bug”.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n\n
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