{"id":42327,"date":"2016-09-24T06:14:59","date_gmt":"2016-09-24T12:14:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=42327"},"modified":"2016-09-24T07:02:51","modified_gmt":"2016-09-24T13:02:51","slug":"a-landing-red-tailed-hawk-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/24\/a-landing-red-tailed-hawk-series\/","title":{"rendered":"A Landing Red-tailed Hawk Series"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s hard enough to get a single sharp\u00a0shot of a landing raptor but nine days ago I captured an entire series of them near Montana’s Centennial Valley.<\/p>\n

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\"red-tailed-hawk-3498-ron-dudley\"<\/p>\n

1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n

I posted this first image as a standalone while I was still on the road but decided to include it here to make the series more complete. I had watched the hawk launch after prey from this pole and guessed that it might return to the same perch so I prefocused on\u00a0the pole\u00a0and waited for the hawk to come back. It obliged me.<\/p>\n

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\"red-tailed-hawk-3499-ron-dudley\"<\/p>\n

1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n

A slight headwind slowed the bird down so I was able to get more approach shots than I expected to. I assumed there was a missing\u00a0feather to explain the gap we see in the tail but in my previous post falconer Laura Culley counted them and in a comment said that the normal number of twelve feathers\u00a0was present so the bird must just be holding its tail a little strangely.<\/p>\n

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\"red-tailed-hawk-3500-ron-dudley\"<\/p>\n

1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here I enjoy the outstretched talons as the bird prepares to settle down on the pole.<\/p>\n

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\"red-tailed-hawk-3501-ron-dudley\"<\/p>\n

1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wouldn’t you know it –\u00a0the hawk’s face was shaded when the feet contacted the pole but I decided to include the image anyway. How could I leave out the moment of touchdown?<\/p>\n

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\"red-tailed-hawk-3504-ron-dudley\"<\/p>\n

1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II,<\/em> Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/p>\n

Then the bird began to fold in its wings and soon continued its “sit and wait” hunting routine\u00a0from the pole.<\/p>\n

In the field I was a little curious about these unusual poles (unusual because they’re extremely old,\u00a0uncommonly short and they have those old-fashioned glass-like insulators)\u00a0but good friend and renowned raptor expert Jerry Liquori immediately recognized them as being “railroad poles”. He said they support very low voltage signal lines that\u00a0often are no longer used by the railroads. These poles were running parallel\u00a0and very close to railroad tracks.\u00a0I thought it\u00a0interesting that the insulator on the right was missing.\u00a0Perhaps it was shot at by vandals – a common practice when I was a kid growing up in Montana in the 50’s.<\/p>\n