![\"red-tailed-hawk-6113b-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/red-tailed-hawk-6113b-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBy now readers must know how much I like this particular takeoff posture in raptors. For me images like this are full of tension and energy and my mind’s eye\u00a0wanders as I try to imagine the details of what happened next.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n I found this hawk atop a rocky cliff four days ago near northern Utah’s Promontory Mountains. The bird wasn’t nervous and I took many images of it as it was perched but what I really wanted was takeoff and flight shots so it was a long, tension-filled wait with my finger on the shutter button and my eye glued to the viewfinder\u00a0before it\u00a0eventually\u00a0launched. I like the pose and natural setting even though the light was just\u00a0a little harsh this late in the morning (9:44 AM). I tried to mitigate that slight harshness during processing.<\/p>\n I actually kept 11 more images of this bird from\u00a0the burst as it lifted off,\u00a0flew along the top of the cliff and then dropped down and\u00a0passed in front of it but many of them don’t give the viewer a great look at the eye. After I review them more carefully I may post the entire series sometime in the future if I like them well enough collectively, despite that issue with the eye.<\/p>\n For me there’s just something a little extra-special about a sequence of\u00a0photos of a raptor during and immediately after takeoff that can make me overlook some minor imperfections.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – I’m sure readers have noted that I’ve been posting quite a few RTH’s lately. I try to avoid posting too many images of the same species over time but sometimes it just works out that way. With winter coming on, who knows –\u00a0soon it may be “too many” Rough-legged Hawks or Northern Harriers or Bald Eagles or Pied-billed Grebes or ….? I can only post what I\u00a0shoot and sometimes they come in bunches. I hope you’ll bear with me if they do.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By now readers must know how much I like this particular takeoff posture in raptors. For me images like this are full of tension and energy and my mind’s eye wanders as I try to imagine the details of what happened next.<\/p>\n