![\"rough-legged](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/03\/rough-legged-hawk-0252-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/3200, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS\u00a0USM + 1.4 tc, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nI love the dramatic vertical wing lift as this bird took off\u00a0from a\u00a0tree on Antelope Island\u00a0but I was very lucky to avoid clipping its wings with them in this position. In my experience it’s somewhat unusual for buteos to raise their wings this high as they lift off so as I was reviewing my images later that day I pondered over this one, wondering why it had done so.<\/p>\n
One thing I noticed was that the bird had settled down\u00a0into the perch so that many of the branches and twigs of the tree were higher up than much of the body of the hawk. This meant that the bird needed as much lift as possible to clear those branches at takeoff – thus the high wing position.<\/p>\n
So now whenever I have my lens trained on a large, perched hawk that is likely to take off soon\u00a0and it’s perched so that it has obstructions in its probable takeoff path I always try to\u00a0frame the bird with extra room up top so that I’m less likely to clip those expansive wings in a vertical position. I’m so fond of that posture that I really<\/em> want to avoid clipping body parts whenever possible.<\/p>\n That lesson has served me well in the\u00a0four years since I took this image so I thought I’d pass it along.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This Rough-legged Hawk taught me a little trick that has improved my keeper rate for takeoff shots.<\/p>\n