{"id":53677,"date":"2017-11-19T04:54:35","date_gmt":"2017-11-19T11:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.featheredphotography.com\/blog\/?p=53677"},"modified":"2017-11-19T06:43:37","modified_gmt":"2017-11-19T13:43:37","slug":"red-tailed-hawk-takeoff-and-flight-six-image-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/2017\/11\/19\/red-tailed-hawk-takeoff-and-flight-six-image-series\/","title":{"rendered":"Red-tailed Hawk Takeoff And Flight (six image series)"},"content":{"rendered":"

And the challenge of negotiating branches\u00a0during the process.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

Yesterday morning we found\u00a0a pair of juvenile Red-tailed Hawks hanging around together in Box Elder County. They were very close to a busy road and just a little bit nervous.\u00a0The two hawks\u00a0were pretty tight with each other so I had to wonder if they were hatch year\u00a0siblings. When the first one took off this\u00a0bird eventually followed and\u00a0I was curious about\u00a0how it was going to negotiate all those\u00a0branches and twigs.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

One strategy of course was to close its nictitating membranes\u00a0several times during the takeoff process to help protect its eyes.\u00a0That’s generally not a good thing for photography but it’s good for the hawk in these situations\u00a0so I have no problem with it.<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

It was a pretty tight fit amongst all those twigs. Most of them were behind the bird but there’s a few in front of the right wing primaries and a couple in front of the end of the\u00a0tail so the bird was threading the needle.<\/p>\n

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1\/4000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

At this point the hawk began to break out into the open and\u00a0was really scooping some air with its wings.<\/p>\n

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1\/5000, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

It began a slight turn to the right…<\/p>\n

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1\/3200, f\/7.1, ISO 500, Canon 7D Mark II, Canon EF 500mm f\/4L IS II USM + EF 1.4 III Extender, not baited, set up or called in<\/em><\/p>\n

and soon allowed me my favorite shot of the series. I like the elegant simplicity of this photo with the left wing perfectly vertical, the legs hanging down as a visual counterbalance and the mottled sky background. But for me the near-perfect head turn providing excellent eye contact is the crowning glory of the image. Without it the\u00a0photo would have been significantly diminished.<\/p>\n

It would have been nice if the\u00a0rosy-tinged clouds in the background were a little\u00a0better defined but I’ll take it anyway.<\/p>\n

Ron<\/p>\n

Notes:<\/em><\/p>\n