![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/american-kestrel-3143-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-kestrel-3143-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\nFarmington Bay WMA was largely socked in with fog when I arrived shortly before sunrise yesterday morning and as it\u00a0was clearing it gave the sky a turquoise hue as a backdrop for this cold male American Kestrel as he attempted\u00a0to warm himself in the sun. It was 12\u00b0 F. so everything was covered with\u00a0frost including the tree the kestrel was perched in.<\/p>\n
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1\/2500, f\/8, ISO 640, 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 That thin layer of white\u00a0frost was\u00a0slick so when he attempted to turn around\u00a0on his perch he slipped and\u00a0lost his balance.\u00a0This pose was the result as he attempted to regain stability. I like\u00a0the raised left wing and\u00a0flared tail and the even morning light on such an attractive and\u00a0colorful raptor\u00a0is a welcome bonus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1\/2500, f\/8, ISO 640, 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 In the next shot in the burst he’s lowering his wing and seeming to inspect his feet in an attempt to figure out what caused him to slip.<\/p>\n I like both of these shots as I’ve presented them here but there’s a problem.\u00a0What we see isn’t what came out of my camera.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n In reality there were out-of-focus branches directly in front of the bird in both shots. To my eye those branches are highly distracting so I couldn’t resist removing them to see what might have been. If they had been sharp they wouldn’t have bothered me quite so much but I’d prefer them not to be there at all.<\/p>\n Readers know I strongly dislike cloning elements out of my images but sometimes that clone tool is a damned\u00a0seductive temptress. I would never clone significantly\u00a0without disclosing what I’ve done and I try to avoid doing it at all but with varying levels of success.<\/p>\n It’s a character flaw I’m still working on.<\/p>\n Ron<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Slippery frost on a perch can result in some interesting poses.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/american-kestrel-3144b-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-kestrel-3144b-ron-dudley\\"")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/american-kestrel-3144-ron-dudley.jpg\" "\\"american-kestrel-3144-ron-dudley\\"")
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