{"id":48311,"date":"2017-05-17T05:44:40","date_gmt":"2017-05-17T11:44:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=48311"},"modified":"2017-05-17T14:39:20","modified_gmt":"2017-05-17T20:39:20","slug":"my-kind-of-raptor-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/17\/my-kind-of-raptor-country\/","title":{"rendered":"My Kind Of Raptor Country"},"content":{"rendered":"

Birds aren’t the only itch of mine to be scratched by my addiction to bird photography.<\/p>\n

By nature I’m a bit of a recluse (one of my dear old friends has playfully suggested for years that I’m “antisocial”). I’m uncomfortable\u00a0in\u00a0crowds of people, traffic and most of the hustle and bustle of modern life. Give me wide-open country with birds and nature in it and I’m in my element – that’s probably a leftover from my\u00a0growing up\u00a0years in northwest Montana.<\/p>\n

For me living in Utah is a mixed blessing. I’m uncomfortable with the\u00a0dominant political\u00a0climate of the state, many of its social and religious\u00a0mores and\u00a0the\u00a0urban congestion of the\u00a0Wasatch Front where I live but within a relatively short\u00a0drive in\u00a0multiple directions I can escape it all and be\u00a0out in the “middle of nowhere”. That ability keeps me (relatively) sane.<\/p>\n

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1\/1250, f\/9, ISO 800 @ 61mm<\/em><\/p>\n

Basin and Range country like this\u00a0of western and northwestern Utah keeps me grounded. I took this photo two days ago and it exemplifies what I love about\u00a0the \u00a0area – open country, sagebrush, mountains,\u00a0vistas that are expansive and often beautiful,\u00a0few people and lots of\u00a0birds – raptors especially. I typically spend three early morning\u00a0hours slowly cruising for birds in my pickup and in that time the only vehicles\/people I encounter are the occasional local rancher or sheepherder. It’s my nirvana…<\/p>\n

These two Swainson’s Hawks seemed to be buddies as they perched closely together and tried to warm up in the rising sun with a cool north breeze blowing. This species is particularly abundant lately and on this morning I saw scores of them. I’ve photographed over a dozen species of buteos, eagles and owls in this general\u00a0area alone and it’s only a tiny portion of the Basin and Range region of Utah that I routinely haunt – some of it much more remote than this.<\/p>\n

Prehistoric Lake Bonneville covered much of the state (and parts of Idaho and Nevada) starting about 32,000 years ago. It was\u00a0nearly as large and significantly deeper (over 1,000 ft) than today’s\u00a0Lake Michigan and it left its geological mark on the entire region. Sharp\u00a0eyes will\u00a0notice about six horizontal “benches” carved into the mountains in the background by the waves of the ancient\u00a0lake (easiest to see at center right in the photo). In addition to everything else I love the spectacular geology of the entire state.<\/p>\n

Geez, I’d better quit babbling and get back to birds…<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 640, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II US, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

This is the light morph Swainson’s Hawk on the left in the previous photo.\u00a0I’m a little confused by its plumage but I believe it to be a relatively young bird.<\/p>\n

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1\/2000, f\/6.3, ISO 500, Canon 7D, Canon EF 100-400mm f\/4.5-5.6L IS II USM @ 349mm, not baited, set up or called in\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

And this is the Swainson’s on the right in that photo.<\/p>\n

Both birds were incredibly “tame” and didn’t even flinch when another vehicle zoomed noisily by within just a few feet of them. I had to pass by so close to them that I was forced to use my “baby lens” for this image to give me any chance at all for\u00a0take-off shots without clipping any body parts.\u00a0And the\u00a0hawks had\u00a0a choice to perch on ugly metal posts or old wooden posts with more character\u00a0and both chose the latter. Good birds!<\/p>\n

I’m stuck at home this morning with rain and even snow in the forecast in the middle of May but images like these remind me of what’s in store for me if and when we ever get light again.<\/p>\n

Bring it on!<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

PS – I just looked outside in the dark (5:50 AM) and there’s now at least an inch of snow on the ground. And it’s still coming down. My poor vegetable garden will be (frozen) toast…<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Birds aren’t the only itch of mine to be scratched by my addiction to bird photography.<\/p>\n

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