![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/rough-legged-hawk-2203-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough-legged-hawk-2203-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nI almost didn’t have a turkey to post for Thanksgiving but this Rough-legged Hawk saved the day.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/6.3, 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 This was one of only two cooperative birds I found on a very long birding excursion to Box Elder County\u00a0three days ago. I was thrilled when I caught this wing position in great light\u00a0during an\u00a0unusually fast and unexpected\u00a0takeoff and had high hopes for\u00a0the image. But in the end\u00a0those hopes were dashed.<\/p>\n The photo is garbage because it’s so damned soft and it shouldn’t have been. This version is not a large crop at all and I’ve applied my “normal” amount of sharpening selectively to the bird but the photo is\u00a0still so soft that I\u00a0would have deleted it\u00a0already if I hadn’t planned to use it for my “turkey”\u00a0on Thanksgiving (a designation it fully deserves.\u00a0Apologies to real turkeys for the insult).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n This version is cropped to 100% and not sharpened\u00a0so you can see what a mess it really\u00a0is.<\/p>\n I realize that everybody\u00a0gets soft shots they can’t explain\u00a0now and then but this has been an ongoing problem for me for months. Consider the following and see if any of you photographers can help me figure out what’s going on (apologies to all the non-photographers out there who will probably be bored stiff by all\u00a0the photo-geekiness, if you’re able to\u00a0wade through it at all):<\/p>\n It doesn’t make any sense to me\u00a0and I’m at my wit’s end so if anyone has a clue that might help me figure out what’s going on I’ll gladly\u00a0award you my second-born\u00a0child\u00a0(don’t hold your breath though because I’m keeping Shannon, my first-born, and at my age and disposition there’s very little chance of another one coming along…).<\/p>\n Regular readers will likely notice that I didn’t put my copyright watermark\u00a0on these images. Help yourself… \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you like your turkey a helluva lot\u00a0more than I like mine.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I almost didn’t have a turkey to post for Thanksgiving but this Rough-legged Hawk saved the day.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/rough-legged-hawk-2203-100-crop-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"rough-legged-hawk-2203-100-crop-ron-dudley\\"")
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