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![\"red-tailed-hawk-6100-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-6100-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, 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\u00a0encountered the bird nine days ago\u00a0near Utah’s Promontory Mountains. I photographed it for several minutes as it was perched on the cliff above me but mostly I wanted takeoff and flight shots. I was not disappointed.<\/p>\n The following 14 images are sequential shots in a burst with only one skip (apparently I deleted that skipped photo but I can’t remember why…). Obviously some images are better than others – that comes with the territory when you post this many\u00a0shots in a series.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The hawk crouched…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0and began to lift its wings.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Here I caught the full wing and body stretch at lift-off I enjoy so much. This is the image I posted previously.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I was a little surprised the hawk went this direction because it meant negotiating some of those tall grasses.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n But it cleared the shorter grasses directly in front of it…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n without a problem.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This is one of the few images in the series where the wings are in a down position.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n As the hawk continued on its way it turned its head slightly to its left which left me with little light in the eye in the rest of the series.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Horizontal wing positions aren’t my favorite flight posture but I wanted to include as many images of the entire series as I\u00a0 could.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Part of the cliff to the right of the hawk\u00a0was higher than the spot the bird took off from so for the rest of these shots I had to deal\u00a0with it in the background.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I was surprised the hawk kept its feet dangling for as long as it did.<\/p>\n If I hadn’t deleted it the skipped image would have appeared next.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n I’m not as fond of these last three images…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n because the rocky background is a little too close to the bird for my tastes…<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender,\u00a0not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n but I was pleased to get the\u00a0hawk as sharp as it is with the background that close. In these conditions it’s very easy for focus to lock onto the background instead of the bird.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One of the reasons I so enjoy a series like this is it allows me to judge things like\u00a0distance traveled and\u00a0elevation gained or lost in a single wing-beat and in a given amount of time\u00a0(my Canon 7D Mark II has a burst rate of 10 frames\/sec so\u00a0each\u00a0of these images was taken 1\/10 of a second apart).<\/p>\n I’m a bit of a bird-nerd when it comes to stuff like that.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n PS – I was\u00a0pleasantly surprised\u00a0to get this many sharp\u00a0flight shots in a series\u00a0without a clipped wing or cut off body part (though I came close a couple of times). The clipping gods must have been taking a siesta…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I was delighted to get so many sharp shots of this Red-tailed Hawk during and after takeoff.<\/p>\n![\"red-tailed-hawk-6111-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-6111-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"red-tailed-hawk-6112-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-6112-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"red-tailed-hawk-6117-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-6117-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n![\"red-tailed-hawk-6119-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-6119-ron-dudley.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"red-tailed-hawk-6120-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/10\/red-tailed-hawk-6120-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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