1\/1600, f\/6.3, ISO 1000, 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>\nThis is the presumed female (based mostly\u00a0on size) Peregrine Falcon I photographed eating a coot near the Jordan River earlier this month. When this photo was taken she had eaten her fill, pooped and was preparing to take off.\u00a0It was cloudy at dawn so the\u00a0light was\u00a0dim for most of the time I spent with her\u00a0but just prior to this shot the sun partially peeked out of the clouds and gave me some nice soft light.<\/p>\n
Here she’s rousing (shaking her erect feathers)\u00a0just before lifting off.\u00a0As she\u00a0roused\u00a0she\u00a0turned back to look my way which really\u00a0made her yellow cere, lore and eye ring stand out in the improved light and I even got a nice catch light in the eye. I like how well-defined four of her raised\u00a0flank feathers are and how different in color and pattern they are from\u00a0her upper tail coverts on the side of her rump.\u00a0I also\u00a0think the heavily frosted grass in such soft light provides an interesting setting.<\/p>\n
I believe the\u00a0dim light at the beginning of my time with her gave her the confidence to feed on the coot in my presence. She actually approached the coot by walking up to it after I had stopped my pickup and had my lens on her. If the light had been better early on I believe she would have flown off.<\/p>\n
Timing is everything in these situations. Sometimes it’s planned but more often it’s pure, dumb luck.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
Note to photographers: At ISO 1000 I was a little concerned about introducing more\u00a0noise into the background during processing so I chose to apply sharpening selectively\u00a0to the bird only by masking her prior to sharpening (sharpening increases noise). <\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don’t believe I’ve ever been this close to a Peregrine Falcon as it roused.<\/p>\n
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