1\/640, f\/11, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nI\u00a0witnessed this unexpected behavior this past May near the Promontory Mountains of northern Utah. I’d been photographing the female on this rocky perch from a fairly close distance when the male suddenly swooped in and filled my viewfinder with his open wings as\u00a0he landed on her back. They struggled for quite a while to\u00a0accomplish the mating but his landing was off-center and when his left foot eventually slipped off her back (as it’s doing here)\u00a0he gave up and flew off without consummating the act (the “cloacal kiss” was never accomplished).<\/p>\n
Both birds are light morphs but I believe the female to be a young bird so perhaps her inexperience contributed to the failure. I felt badly for them but I’ll also admit that their extended mating\u00a0struggles gave me many opportunities for interesting images that I’m very grateful for.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
PS – This post is an abbreviated one and that trend may continue for a while\u00a0because I’m in a string of bad luck. The latest catastrophe was a refrigerator that gave up the ghost yesterday afternoon, as evidenced by water all over the kitchen floor, melting ice\u00a0and thawing frozen foods. Can you imagine shopping for a new refrigerator on Black Friday? Harakiri time!\u00a0That was my first experience shopping on Black Friday and if at all possible it will definitely be my last! <\/em><\/p>\nSo until my new fridge is delivered on Tuesday I’m “camping” in my own\u00a0home with some of the food in an ice cooler and some of it in my camping trailer fridge (very small) and another tiny freezer. <\/em><\/p>\nAnd the forecast is for\u00a0clouds and snow until the middle of next week so I’ll probably be digging into my photo archives for material for blog posts for a few days. Who knows, I may even take a day or two off…<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I always enjoy intimate looks at birds of prey but this one was over the top.<\/p>\n
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![\"swainsons-hawk-7825-ron-dudley\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/swainsons-hawk-7825-ron-dudley.jpg\")
1\/640, f\/11, ISO 400, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n